^/-vo 

A 

Hr SEAMEN; 

PAST AND PRESENT. 


A 

GENERAL COMPILATION OF OPINIONS 


THEIR CONDITION 

AND THE 

MEANS EOR THEIR IIPROYEIENT. 


R. B. FORBES. 


BOSTON: 

1878. 

JAMES F. COTTER & CO., PRINTERS, 
14 Statb Street. 

































\ 














» 


I N T R 0 D U 0 T 0 R Y . 


I desire it to be understood that there is very 
little to be claimed as original in this liotch potch. 
It is made up from day to day as new materials 
come to hand, and some apology seems to be 
necessary for the desultory manner in which my 
subject is presented ; but I shall claim no other 
credit for it than an earnest desire to improve 
the condition of our marine, natal and mercantile. 













* 













E R RATA. 


/ 




On page 12, line 12, for “£1.23,” read “£1.2.3.” 

On page 15, line 17, for “3,500,” read “35,000.” 

On page 36, line 35, for “Jnnita,” read “Juniata,” 

On page 48, line 24, for “concurrence in,” read “concurrence of a court in. 












































' 


















- 





















SEAMEN AND NAUTICAL EDUCATION. 


The want of good seamen is generally felt by ship-owners 
and masters of the commercial marine as well as in the navy. 
The quality of seamen has deteriorated, and this is in a great 
degree owing to the amount of carrying done by steamers. 

I am informed by those who are still actively engaged in 
shipping that it is not uncommon to find among a crew of 
twenty, only four or five who can be depended upon to steer, 
and not many more who can be depended upon to take in a 
snug reef in a squally night. In former times, if among a crew 
of ten shipping as able seamen, one or two unfortunate indi¬ 
viduals were found wanting in seamanship, it was not necessary 
for the captain and officers to punish them, for they had a hard 
time of it at the hands of their shipmates. Now, I am 
informed, the ordinary seamen and skulkers are in the majority, 
and if it were not for the many labor saving devices, which 
have been introduced, the large ships of the present day could 
not be safely sent to sea. 

The introduction of the fore-and-aft rig, particularly in the 
large three masted vessels, and in those rigged with wire rope 
also has tended to prevent the young seamen from becoming 
accomplished seamen according to the old acceptance of that 
term. These are facts universally admitted, and it is true of 
British seamen as well as of Americans. The law does not 
now compel us to take American seamen, or to manufacture 
them as formerly by procuring for them false evidences of 
citizenship. We are indebted to foreign countries for some 
of our best seamen ; but, as a rule we do not get the best, 
owing to the fact that almost all European countries encourage 
good youths to go to sea, assist them to get an education, and 
when they deserve well of their employers—they are induced 
to serve at home—in short, we get many of the refuse; we 
get what Jack would call the “ shakings* ” of society. 


Loose yarns, old decayed ropes, &c. 








Mr. Thomas Brassy, M. P. lias recently given the world his 
views of British seamen in a volume of nearly 400 pages. In 
his introduction, he says : “ The merit of originality cannot be 
claimed for the opinions and suggestions set forth in these 
pages, their value consists in their having been compiled from 
the testimony of maritime, commercial or official sources.” 
Mr. Brassy’s motive seems to have been to devise the best 
means for increasing the efficiency of the seaman by improving 
his material and social condition. In what I purpose to say, 
I cannot offer a better introduction or take credit for any better 
motive. I shall therefore quote largely from his work. The first 
inquiry must be, what has England done to encourage a better 
class of youth to adopt the sea for a profession ? The following 
tables will show that there were seventeen training ships in 
British waters.* Two for officers, sustained mostly by fees of 
entrance; eight industrial schools, supported mostly by aid 
of government; four called “ independent,” that is to say, 
supported solely by private contributions; and three are 
reformatory. The first of these cost for maintenance annually 
about $34,000, calling the pound sterling $5. The eight 
industrial cost about $20,000. The four independent schools 
cost about $30,000, and the reformatory about $23,000. 

Table 3 shows that 112 went from the training ships for 
officers annually to sea at an annual cost per head of about $268. 
400 from industrial schools at a cost of about $95. 626 from 

the independent at a cost of about $105, and 168 from the 
reform ships at a cost of about $100. 

The two training ships for officers, the Worcester in the 
Thames, and the Conway in the Mersey, had in 1877 about 
250 students on board of them. The former was established 
in 1862, takes boys of 12 to 16 years of age ; who remain 
from two to two-and-a-half years; of 717 entered since the 
school began:—5 went into the navy, 574 into the merchant 
service, and 138, including deaths, went into other occupations. 
The Conway was established in 1859, boys are entered from 
13 to 16, remain two years ; from her 40 went into the navy, 
775 into the merchant service, and 162 remained on shore. 


*See appendix. 





3 


This ship may be called the model school ship, intended to 
educate the sons of well to do people, especially for officers in 
the merchant service. 

The Warspite is the only ship in Table No. 1, maintained 
wholly by private subscriptions,—she is maintained by the 
Marine Society. The boys are taken from the following 
classes:—Destitute boys without relations ; boys in abject dis¬ 
tress ; boys of truant habits, or who may have been charged with 
petty offences; boys belonging to poor parents who agree to 
their entering; boys outside of the place (Woolwich), none, 
however, are received under the age of 14, or under four feet ten 
inches in stature. The Marine Society is a private institution, 
and was fully incorporated 1772. From May, 1769 to 31st 
December, 1874, 26,834 were sent into the Royal Navy; 3,760 
into the Indian Navy; and 22,116 into the merchant service. 
Since the starting of the school 57,884 have been fitted for sea, 
and in addition, 39,360 up to 1814 have had a bounty of sea 
clothing on condition of serving in the navy when called upon, 
making a total of 97,244 who have had the benefit of the 
school. 

Of the industrial schools the Indefatigable and Chichester re¬ 
ceive no State aid. In the Thames, the place of all.others, where 
an industrial school ought to flourish, there is no “ certified ” 
school coming under that head. The rules for the government 
of “certified industrial schools,” are,boys from 11 to 14, sent 
by a magistrate with a medical certificate as fit for a sailor ; boys 
found begging, or wandering without visible means of subsist¬ 
ence ; children of parents under penal servitude or imprison¬ 
ment ; boys assorting with thieves. In certain cases boys under 
12 may be entered. Notwithstanding that the Formidable at 
Bristol is manned , so to speak, by boys of “ unsatisfactory 
antecedents,” the inspector, Mr. S. Turner, reports in 1873 that 
“ their general appearance and conduct is very satisfactory, 
they look healthy and bright, and their manner of answering 
questions is intelligent and respectful.” Since the estab¬ 
lishment of this school 500 have been discharged, and of these 
nine-tenths have gone to sea voluntarily, and the reports of 
employers have been favorable. The Cumberland, stationed on 
the Clyde, had in “ September last,” 350 boys on board, of 


4 


whom 150 leave every year ; the average time of serving in 
the ship is three years. She is partly supported by the govern¬ 
ment, partly by poor rates from Glasgow, and partly by sub¬ 
scriptions and bequests. The government giving six shillings 
a week for every boy, while only one shilling comes from 
private sources. 

In August, 18T4, a ship not mentioned in Table No. 1, the 
Arethusa, was established at Greenhithe. 

The Goliath* was partially or wholly destroyed by fire in 
1874 in the Thames. She was specially intended for the 
training of paupers sent from metropolitan unions,—not as I 
understand boys charged with offences or “ gamins,” like those 
in the Formidable. In September, 1874, she had on board 
399, and had sent 156 to sea during the previous twelve 
months. 1,540 had been admitted since the establishment of 
of the ship; — and 1,075 had been placed in a variety of 
occupations in four-and-a-half years. On the occasion of a 
distribution of prizes on board of the Goliath in June, 1875, 
one of the Inspectors said, “ There is no institution in or near 
London productive of more unmixed good.” 

The Akbar and the Clarence at Liverpool, and the Cornwall 
in the Thames, are strictly reformatory, they can accommodate 
700, and have on board 636. The expense, as in the case of 
the industrial schools, is borne chiefly by the government, and 
they take only boys under sentence of a magistrate. 

Mr. Brassy says, page 66, “ The remaining ships are for 
homeless destitute boys who are physically below par. From a 
charitable point of view it is no doubt most desirable that they 
be reclaimed, but, with the exception of the Indefatigable, there 
is among all these charities, no educational provision for the sons 
of merchant seamen who have done well in the service .” I give 
prominence to these facts as worthy of consideration in the 
event of any one in the United States advocating reform school 
ships. Mr. Brassy tells us that fifteen of the training ships 
have been established within 18 years; from 1756 when the 
Warspite was established, to September, 1874, 29,781 have 
gone into the navy, and 30,111 into the merchant service. 


^Burned 22 December, 1875, and was to be replaced by the Exmouth. 




5 


Apart from the old Warspite,* the other 14 ships have sent to 
sea only 401 in the navy, against 5,630 in the merchant service, 
showing how few comparatively are sought for by the navy. 
On an average the boys have less than two years training, and 
only about one-quarter sent out go to sea. 

In the Warspite and Chichester which trained in 1874, 552 
boys, or half the boys sent from all these ships to sea , they had 
served between 7 and 8 months, and Mr. Brassy adds, “ Con¬ 
sidering the material they have to work upon, so short a time 
must be quite inadequate to turn out decent seamen ; the material 
of these schools is unsatisfactory.” And further on he says, 
u Boys in training ships of the navy have immense advantages 
for physical development. It would be unfair to expect that a 
philanthropic institution should recruit from the same sources 
or offer the same advantages as the navy ; the former draw 
recruits from the pauper class, and the consequence is that they 
are inferior in size and strength to those who are more care¬ 
fully recruited, better fed and better trained in the navy,— 
these remarks apply in a less degree to the Warspite, where the 
boys are untainted by crime,” that is to say, not committed for 
crimes. I trust I have given enough of the history of the 
English training ships to show clearly the impolicy of doing 
anything in the way of Nautical Schools in this country on the 
pauper or reformatory plans. We must have Nautical Training 
Schools, and they must be organized and managed so as to 
attract youth of respectable parentage and not mere street 
loafers. To train boys taken from reformatories and prisons 
cannot do honor to the flag. 

Chapter 5th of Mr. Brassy’s book descants largely on the 
proper material for and management of training schools ; he 
says, “ Desirable as it is to reclaim the children of pauper or 
criminal classes, we must admit that in introducing many of 
this class into the merchant service we incur a serious risk. 
The calling of the seamen must be lowered if we allow it to 
become a refuge for the destitute. If we wish to introduce an 
effectual reform we must attract boys to the sea from untainted 
sources. Able officers of the navy assert that the training 


*First organized in 1736. 



6 


ships (Warspite excepted) are conducted under wrong princi¬ 
ples and can never be feeders for the navy: a sailor must be 
physically strong and healthy. Boys are taken poverty stricken 
and half-starved, and on board the school ships they are 
not fed on a sufficiently liberal scale. Admiral Martin says, 
“ that to take boys from reformatories and prisons is to incur 
an expense to train those least likely to serve the State honor¬ 
ably.” Captain Brown, R. N., says, “ the great object is the 
improvement of the physical, moral and mental condition of 
our merchant seamen ; to effect this they should come from 
respectable sources instead of the reverse as is now the case, 
for many vicious irreclaimable are sent to sea.” The testimony 
of many other naval men is given by Mr. Brassy, all tending 
to the same opinions. 

The laws of France are in some respects worthy of consid¬ 
eration even in this country, where in time of peace no obliga¬ 
tion exists to serve in the army or navy. Mr. Brassy says that 
in Lord Ellenborough’s report it is stated that the institution 
existing in that country for the relief of invalid seamen, em¬ 
braces equally those of the national and the mercantile marine. 
It is supported by contributions never less than three per cent, 
of the pay of all persons engaged in the maritime service 
whether afloat or on shore, and the revenue derived from this 
source and from other sources, including interest on the capital, 
amounts to more than £300,000 per annum. The ‘ Caisse des 
Invalides ’ is charged with the payment of pensions and the 
relief of seamen of the navy and merchant service. The funds 
for this purpose are an endowment from the Government, 
called ‘rentes immobiliers,’ bearing 5 per cent, interest, and 
yielding annually 4,500,000 francs; 3,400,000 from fixed 
contributions and charges, and an amount included in the 
annual budget, making a total of 7,900,000 francs or 1,580,000 
dollars at 5 francs to the dollar. Notwithstanding that 
Buonaparte confiscated a part of these funds, there was in 
1844 an invested sum of £3,798,473 or about $19,000,000. 

After a certain time of service every officer and sailor in the 
navy and mercantile marine becomes entitled to a pension from 
this fund , a moiety of which is secured to their widows and 
children, and in certain cases to their parents. Service in the 


7 


French Navy is compulsory ; every seaman between the ages 
of 25 and 50 is entered on the State register ; no man can be 
examined for the grade of master or mate until he has served a 
year and a day at sea in a ship of war. 

To be entitled to a pension men must have attained the age 
of 50, and must have been borne on ships’ articles 25 years. 
Captains in foreign trade receive about $116 per annum, if they 
have been in command five out of the twenty-five years, and at 
the age of 60 they get sixty francs more. Captains’ widows re¬ 
ceive half the pensions their husbands were entitled to, and the 
children of widows up to ten years of age receive three francs 
a month. Seamen who have served 25 years partly in the 
navy and partly in the merchant service, are entitled to a 
pension at the age of 40, and the amount is regulated according 
to classes. 1st and 2d class seamen get ten francs per month ; 
3d class eight francs, and when they reach the age of 60 they 
get six francs more per month. 

Mr. Brassy says, page 217, “ In the United States a com¬ 
pulsory benefit fund has been established, and at all the prin¬ 
cipal ports asylums exist for the use of seamen which are 
supported by deductions from their wages; the right of admis¬ 
sion is secured after he has been fifteen years in the American 
service, and married men can become out-pensioners, receiving 
a shilling a day for life ; the compulsory contribution is twenty 
cents per month. Every worn out or disabled seaman in America 
is entitled to maintenance in one of the asylums established by 
the various States on the seaboard.” 

This is certainly news to me. The compulsory contribution is 
forty cents per month, and the only asylums I know of are United 
States hospitals, where a man can remain only a limited time 
whether cured or not, and these “ asylums” do not receive old 
disabled men permanently. The United States maintains an 
asylum at Philadelphia, where seamen who have served twenty 
years in the navy can have a permanent home ; and at the navy 
yards of Boston, New York, Philadelphia or League Island, 
Washington, Norfolk and Mare Island (California) there are 
navy hospitals for temporary relief for navy seamen. Mr. 
Brassy has confounded United States Hospitals and asylums 
with snug harbors and other private homes for seamen. 


8 


Among the plans for the formation of training schools, Mr. 
Grey, of the Board of Trade, suggests that any one giving 
£100, and subscribing £5 annually should be entitled to keep 
on board of “the new training ship on the Dee ” four boys of the 
respectable class, and that any one giving £20 and £1 annu¬ 
ally may keep one always, and that an annual subscription of 
£5 should provide for one so long as it is paid. 

Among the many interesting statistics given by Mr. Brassy, 
I find the following:—In 1814 the British merchant service 
gave employment to 173,000 men, about the same number as 
in 1861, while the tonnage had increased from 2,681,000 to 
5,895,000 tons. The proportion of men to 100 tons in sailing 
vessels was 4.17 in 1854, 3.25 in 1869, and 3.22 in 1873. The 
proportion of foreign seamen to British employed under the 
flag was 12.6 in 1864, reduced to 10.87 in 1873. He says 
that the loss of seamen in the mercantile marine, arising from 
deaths, desertion, giving up the sea and drowning, amounts to 
16,000 annually ; apprenticeship supplies 3,500 per annum, 
and the training ships about as many more ; boys, not appren¬ 
ticed, and ordinary seaman, supply the balance 9,000. 

In the commencement of Mr. Brassy’s work a good deal is 
said about the cause of deterioration in seamen, among the most 
prominent of which he mentions the large number of jury- 
rigged steamers, requiring few seamen; also the fact that 
good men can get better employment on shore, and also the 
want of properly organized training ships. He winds up by 
telling us what he considers the best remedies. 

1. The abolition of advance notes. 

2. Interest to be allowed in case of delay in paying men. 

3. The government to give a bonus to shipowners for appren¬ 

tices, trained under suitable conditions, and under 
engagement to serve in the navy for one year, and 
afterwards to join the reserve. 

4. Training ships under the admiralty to be established at 

the commercial ports. 

5. A compulsory seaman’s pension fund, to be under the 

management of the Board of Trade, and under the 
guarantee of the State. 


9 


6. Voluntary examinations in modern languages and com¬ 

mercial subjects for masters and mates; student ships 
to be established at Greenwich. 

7. A scale of provisions to be prepared by the Board of 

Trade, and ships bound on long voyages to be provided 
accordingly. 

It should be here stated that the Board of Trade of England 
is strictly a government institution of great power, wholly dif¬ 
ferent from what we call Boards of Trade in this country. 

Mr. Brassy quotes the opinions of many experts as to the 
fact of a falling off in the quality of British seamen. It 
appears that there is much diversity of opinion on this head. 

As to the much discussed question of the deterioration of 
British seamen, which Mr. Brassy enlarges upon, quoting the 
opinions of other men competent to judge, he sums up in these 
words (page 381) :— 

“ On the whole it would appear that our seamen have not 
deteriorated, though the character and seamanship of a large 
number leave much to be desired. 

“ In the coasting trade there are no complaints. These are 
manned by the owners or part owners and their families, as in 
years past. Neither are there any complaints on the part of 
steamers. The agents of large steamship companies speak well 
of their men, backed by officials of the Board of Trade, present¬ 
ing a cheering contrast to the gloomy picture drawn by the 
owners of sailing vessels. In sailing ships on long voyages the 
crews are composed of the residuum of seamen, men without 
homes, without characters to lose, careless and reckless as they 
have ever been, without the slightest spark of loyalty to em¬ 
ployers, and greatly inferior in these respects to any class of 
skilled workmen on shore. Among the causes for this I would 
enumerate:— 

“ L. Absence of encouragement by pecuniary reward for 
good conduct. 

“ 2. Insufficient pay until a recent date, and in some ships 
bad treatment. 

“ 3. The system of pay in advance, and the delay in pay¬ 
ing off. 


10 


“ 4. Want of systematic training. 

“ 5. The inadequate professional status of officers in the 
merchant service.” 

In this country I should say that the most prominent causes 
for the want of good seamen may be found in No. 4 and 5 rather 
than No. 2 and 3. 

If we cannot follow the example of England in establishing 
training ships, we can at least take warning by the mistakes 
she has made. The Conway affords the best model to follow. 
I will therefore describe her organization and the sources from 
which she derives her revenue. As before stated she is in¬ 
tended mainly for the training of young men for officers in the 
merchant service. She has on board a complete nautical and 
educational staff, and the boys are exercised in all the duties 
of a first class ship. The Queen has offered a gold medal 
annually for the best boy. The selection to be made by a vote 
of the students from a list to be selected by the officers and 
numbering not over five. She also encourages boys from the 
Conway to qualify themselves for cadetships in the navy by 
offering prizes. The Admiralty opens the door by reserving 
places for five of the students annually. The Board of Trade 
reckons two years on board of the Conway as equal to one 
year at sea. 

The merchants of Liverpool give a preference to the boys, 
provided they have not served less than two years. She is 
under the immediate supervision of the Marine Mercantile 
Service Association of Liverpool. 

The terms of admission are forty guineas per annum, and 
ten guineas for outfit in clothing, books, stationery, <fcc. The 
sons of members of the association and of deceased and unfor 
tunate members and of officers of the navy are admitted for 
thirty guineas. Boys must bring certificates of good char- 
actei and a medical certificate as to their health. Boys having 
completed their course may remain on board until they ob¬ 
tain ships, paying four guineas per month. None are received 
under the age of welve, or over sixteen. None are re¬ 
ceived who cannot read, write and spell fairly, and work 
questions in the simple rules of arithmetic, and they must 


11 


pass examination by the commander and the medical officer 
of the ship. Besides the usual studies and exercises, they 
are taught swimming, and are well drilled in all the duties 
of sailors—as heaving the lead and log, the management 
of boats, Ac., Ac. Each in his turn keeps watch and serves 
as mess-man. Recently the Committee have obtained from 
the Admiralty the line-of-battle ship Nile, as being more 
commodious than the Conway. The Worcester on the Thames 
is conducted on the same plan as the Conway, and both have 
turned out a large number who have done credit to their 
training. 

An interesting fact is stated by Mr. Brassy, who quotes from 
a report of the Secretary of our navy, that 7500 officers of the 
merchant service served during the rebellion in the navy, and 
acquitted themselves with zeal and ability. All who are familiar 
with the doings of our navy will remember with pride that our 
volunteer officers as well as our hardy fishermen did much to sus¬ 
tain the integrity of the Union. It is considered very impor¬ 
tant in England, and it is no less so in this country, to have 
schools of gunnery for the training of officers and seamen of the 
merchant service, as* well as for recruits for the navy; and to 
this end all receiving ships should be so stationed and so fitted 
as to afford means for this sort of instruction. 

Only one thing seems wanting for the more complete organi¬ 
zation of the Conway and the Worcester, and that is they 
should be located at more open ports where the tides are less 
rapid, and where they will be less exposed to the temptations 
of the shore ; and they should be provided with tenders of say 
100 tons, suitably rigged, for more thoroughly teaching nau¬ 
tical manoeuvres than can be done in large stationary ships 
with heavy yards and sails. I agree with Mr. Brassy in saying 
that we should afford encouragement to young men of good 
families to go to sea ; we are abundantly supplied with young 
men fitted for the learned professions, and for all manufac¬ 
turing and mercantile pursuits, except sailors. According to 
Mr. Brassy the Norwegians have done much to improve their 
mercantile marine and their navy by assimilating the two ser¬ 
vices, so that “ an intelligent, sober, respectable class has been 
formed which has secured a confidence and respect for their 


f 


12 


marine which a similar class of our ships and mariners have 
not been able to sustain.” 

In the service in question lieutenants of the navy can obtain 
command of merchant ships, and on the other hand, well edu¬ 
cated masters and mates are encouraged to qualify themselves 
to go into the navy as officers in time of need. Mr. Brassy 
cites (page 340) the large amounts appropriated by Parlia¬ 
ment for science and art departments—X286,000—and asks 
why more cannot be done for nautical education. One of the 
reasons for the superiority of Norwegian seamen may be found 
in the fact, stated page 351 of Brassy’s book, that the wages 
have increased from XI.23 in 1850 to about X3 for seamen in 
1875; during the same period the wages of laborers had 
increased from 2s. 3d. to 3s. 8d. per day only. Mr. Brassy tells us 
(page 360) that Norway, alone of all nations, has increased her 
tonnage faster than England, it having trebled between 1850 
and 1860. 

He quotes Mr. Donald Currie as stating that “ about thirty 
years ago there were only four steamers running on the 
Atlantic—the whole communication between America and 
Europe was by the Cunard line—their capacity for cargo was 
eighty tons each. The whole of the carrying trade was done 
by the Americans. At this time there are dispatched from 
Liverpool alone, every month, 100,000 tons of cargo. I know 
of only one line of American steamers running between the old 
world and the new. American packet ships have disappeared. 
Whether round the Cape, or by the Suez Canal, by far the 
greater part of the trade is done in British bottoms. Is there 
one American ship running between England and India? 
Three-fourths of the Suez Canal trade by steam is under the 
British flag. In 1850 English shipowners were awakened to a 
sense of their position by the arrival of the American clipper 
Oriental with teas from China in ninety-one days.* It was said 
4 the glory of England had departed.’ To-day it is a thing un¬ 
known to see the Stars and Stripes bringing tea to England.” 


* This ship was loaded by Russel & Co., of which house I was the resident 
chief at the time. 







13 


Mi'. Currie might have gone a step further, and said that in 
our principal seaports we see every day more foreign flags 
employed in foreign trade than Americans. 

A report of Mr. Packcnham, quoted on page 362, says that in 
the United States in the year ending June 30,1871, there were: 


British ships, 

17,840, 

measuring 5,311,775 

tons, 

entered. 

“ “ 

17;765; 

“ 5,211,179 

it 

cleared. 

North German ships, 

399 

“ 469,996 

a 

entered. 

« u a 

370 

“ 460,214 

a 

cleared. 

Norwegian ships, 

356 

“ 146,739 

u 

entered. 

“ “ 

324 

“ 132,201 

“ 

cleared. 

French “ 

93 

“ 94,512 

“ 

entered. 

“ “ 

94 

“ 96,882 

a 

cleared. 

Italian “ 

149 

“ 52,463 

a 

entered. 

U it 

153 

“ 53,567 

a 

cleared. 


And in the American foreign trade, there were in— 

1850, foreigners, tons, 1,728,214, Americans, 2,632,788 
1860 “ “ 2,624,005 “ 6,165,924 

1871 “ “ 9,207,396 “ 3,982,852 

These figures seem to me almost incredible. 

Mr. Brassy tells us on pages 363-4-5 as coming from a 
report of Mr. Packenham that the internal commerce of the 
United States by rail is nearly fifteen times as great as the 
external, and that the coasting trade would also be lost but for 
protective legislation. Formerly six passengers were carried 
across the • Atlantic by Americans to one by foreigners. The 
annual receipts, $100,000,000 has gone mainly into foreign 
hands and that England has no reason to fear competition by 
steam from America. He adds further on that the difficulties 
we have experienced have led to the building of the most 
economical vessels, the three-masted schooners, which have 
ever been built, vessels of 6 and 700 tons, navigated by nine 
or ten persons all told, and he recommends Englishmen to try 
them. If I am rightly informed we have gone to an extreme 
in this matter; I am told that many of the three-masters are 
being altered to barkentines. 

Mr. Brassy reports Sir Edward Thornton as saying that in 
the year ending June 30, 1872, of 29,281 tons entered, 10,624 
were American, and foreign 18,657, of which 16,396 were 



14 


British! and that in the port of New York alone the British 
tonnage had increased from 44,000 tons, in 1831 to 1,938,000 
tons in 1872. Between 1869 and 1874 the steam tonnage 
entered at New York increased 904,000 tons. 

In the 20th chapter of Mr. Brassy upon the supply of seamen 
in foreign countries, it is said that Great Britain is better oft 
than many of her maritime rivals, particularly than the 
Germans and the United States. France has an advantage in 
the fact that 172,000 men between 18 and 50 are enrolled, 
though they are not all deep water sailors, and that the fisher¬ 
men have no experience in ships until they enter the navy, but 
they are valuable as material out of which to make good sea 
going sailors. 

This brings me to consider why we have so few French 
sailors in the United States. The answer seems to me to be 
plain enough. France encourages her seamen by bounties to 
stay at home, and there is also a difficulty in surmounting our 
language. In all my experience, extending over sixty years, I 
have known only three or four Frenchmen before the mast. 
While a British Consul pays a very marked complement to the 
seamen of Brittany, Admiral Jurien de la Graviere in his work 
entitled “ La Marine d’autre fois,” does not give a flattering 
account of the seamen they get by conscription. The late 
Captain Goodenough tells Mr. Brassy that there are in North 
Germany 80^000 seamen, including fishermen, but that there is a 
growing distaste for the sea, and that in a moral point of view 
they are as unsatisfactory as English sailors, and that ships are 
often detained for want of men, and that they desert in foreign 
ports. The remedies proposed are to adopt compulsory appren¬ 
ticeship ; to reduce the advance; and supply clothing from the 
slop chest; training ships are recommended. A writer in 
Frazer’s Magazine says, “ the German seamen are equal to the 
English in physique and immeasurably superior in patience, 
sobriety and industry, and as a whole superior to British 
seamen ; desertions are rare in German ships.” So far as my 
experience goes I must admit that the North country men, 
particularly the Swedes and Danes, are far more peaceable 
than English and Irish sailors ; vastly more reliable in stormy 
weather and less inclined to desert. 




15 


Mr. Brassy, page 373, quotes from a report of Secretary 
Robeson for 1869: “Some means should be devised to bring the 
seamen of this country to its protection in time of war. The 
people will not object to suitable bounties and to making provi¬ 
sion for the families of seamen provided their services can be 
secured. By adopting a system of registry and enrolment for 
active and reserve seamen, much may be done for the restora¬ 
tion of the personnel of the navy and by adding a system of 
training for petty officers and first-class seamen, its ancient 
prestige and glory may be restored. We have neglected to 
educate a competent body of men. Those waifs of the ocean 
who have no attachment to the flag, so exceed the old men-of- 
war as to impart a very bad character to the service.” 

“ During the late war the navy required 60,000 men, bounties 
of <£50 to £60 were paid, besides advances of pay, and State 
bounties. In some cases nearly £200 were paid for a single 
man. Out of 3,500 afloat 10,000 were landsmen and this was 
exclusive of marines.” 

In using the term landsmen it must not be understood that 
they were men wholly unused to the sea,—landsmen is a term 
applied upon enlistment to men who are not qualified to be 
rated as able or ordinary seamen. 

The report of the Bureau of Equipment in 1874, says: 
“ Every years’ experience in enlisting men for the navy, makes 
the necessity more apparent for providing a system of appren¬ 
ticeship adopted to the wants of the navy.” 

At page 374, Mr. Brassy quotes the report of the Secretary 
of the Navy for 1875 : “ The department has deemed it advis¬ 
able to resume the enlistment of boys to serve till reaching the 
age of twenty-one. The great want of native born seamen has 
been seriously felt of late years, and it becomes a matter of 
national importance to remedy the evil.” After alluding to 
what has been done in England, the report alluded to, goes on 
to say, “ under the present system, which is purely experi¬ 
mental, about 250 have been enlisted and placed on board of 
training ships. The object is solely to make efficient sailors 
without attempting to fit them for higher grades; the Chief of 
the Bureau of Equipment reports favorably of the experiment, 
and asked for means to enlist 500, with an out-fit of $50 each.” 


16 


Chapter 21st treats of the best way to improve the seamen 
and keep them in the service, being a general summary of the 
preceding chapters. I shall quote some of this chapter without 
giving the exact language. 

Mr. Brassy does not propose to dwell on the faults of seamen, 
but to suggest means for the amelioration of their condition. 

Foreigners do not increase, but they cannot be dispensed with, 
and to limit enlistment to natives would greatly increase wages. 
The same complaints as to the inefficiency of British seamen 
have been made ever since the great continental, war. All 
Royal Commissions on unseaworthy ships, have testified to the 
moral deterioration of British seamen. The mercantile marine 
is the backbone of the navy. History tells us that many of the 
old navy men, unwilling captives of the press gang were 
destitute of patriotism and fidelity. James’ Naval History says, 
that a great proportion of the crew of the. United States when 
she captured the Macedonian were English, and he quotes 
Commodore Decatur as saying, that some of his men served 
with Nelson in the Victory, and that there was not a seaman in 
his ship who had not served from jive to twelve years in a British 
ship-of-war. I pause in my condensed statement of what Mr. 
Brassy says, to express the opinion that Commodore Decatur 
never made such a statement. It is probable that there were a 
number of such on board who may be said to have been fight¬ 
ing with a halter about their necks, but that all the able seamen 
were English I cannot bring myself to believe. To go on with 
what Mr. Brassy says: “ I do not deny that many of our men 
are unworthy of the flag, but when we are told that they have 
deeriorated so much, I ask for the evidence. Owing to a test 
examination our commanders are better \ our seamen are better 
educated ; ships are better; on the other hand steamers have 
diawn away the best men from the merchant service in sailing 
ships ; higher wages are paid in steamers, their absence from 
home is shorter, they have better food, better accommodations 
and lighter work.” I have already touched on Mr. Brassy’s 
conclusions, that on the whole, seamen have not deteriorated. 


17 


Memorandum of Regulations as to Hospital Money. 

The act of Juno 29, 1870, Section 1st, 16 Stat. 169, requires 
masters or owners of ships to deduct forty cents per month 
from the wages of officers and men in the merchant service, and 
in case of sale in foreign ports, the consul is to collect the 
same*. Coasting vessels must make returns upon their renewal 
of license or enrollment; the penalty for nonconformity is 
f50 for each offence. The hospital fund is to be expended 
under the direction of the supervising surgeon for the relief 
of such American seamen as are entitled to its benefits who are 
suffering from sickness or injuries. 

Any foreign seaman may be admitted into a hospital, the ex¬ 
pense to be a charge upon the vessel to which he belongs. 
Fishing vessels and canal boats, not moved by sail or steam, 
are exempted from paying hospital money. 

Indigent seamen not sick or disabled are not entitled to 
relief. Men giving up going to sea for two months, and who 
are able to go, lose all claim to the use of the hospital, even 
though they may have contributed for many years. 

When demanded by a seaman, the master must furnish a cer¬ 
tificate of the time he has served, without which he cannot get 
into a hospital. To obtain relief a man must apply at the 
custom-house, or to the hospital surgeon, and undergo an 
examination. The surgeon’s permit entitles the seaman to 
remain two months. Under certain conditions the time may 
be extended by application to the Marine Hospital Bureau at 
Washington; this is often done. 

The law requires that the expense of caring for a sick man 
at sea, or on shore, is a charge on the vessel. The hospital 
fund only cares for the seaman when landed at ports where 
there is a hospital or a custom-house ; this would seem to be 
hard upon a man who has contributed to the fund as well as 
upon the owners. 

Where there is a custom-house officer, he may, upon the 
receipt of a surgeon’s certificate, send a man to soqie hospital. 
Seamen cannot be cared for at home except by special au¬ 
thority from Washington. A seaman dying in hospital, notice to 
be given to his relatives, and if his effects are not called for 

3 


18 


within three months, the proceeds come into the hands of the 
bureau. Seamen from foreign vessels pay seventy-five cents per 
day. I am indebted for the above information to Dr. I. M. 
Woodworth, Supervising Surgeon.* 

From the same source I gather further facts of great 
interest in the discussion of the question of improvement or 
falling off in the moral condition of seamen. In a pamphlet 
by the Doctor of 1875,1 find it stated that after an examina¬ 
tion of 21 steamers and 19 sailing vessels, bringing §488 pas¬ 
sengers in the steerage, he comes to the conclusion that “ with 
the supplanting of sailing vessels by steamers, we get better 
accommodations, shorter voyages, more space and light, better 
ventilation, better food and water, and an improved class of 
officers and crews ; though in the latter respect there is room 
for improvement. The mortality in steerage passengers has 
been reduced over 50 per cent, in five years; in sailing vessels 
this gain has been from 1167 in sailing vessels in 1867, to 542 in 
1872, and in steamers from 103 to 45. Dr. W. tells us, that of 
1602 steerage passengers arriving at Baltimore for one quarter, 
ending 31 March, 1873, 711 came by sail, out of which 32 
died ; and 954 by steamer, of which only 2 died. 

I get also from the same source a paper by Dr. H. Smith, 
surgeon in charge of the United States Hospital at New York, 
some very startling facts as to the bad sanitary condition and 
influence of seamen coming under his eyes. He says— 

“ The forecastle is the neglected point of sanitary police. 
Sailors are not brought under sanitary observation as they 
should be. They come and go, no one cares for them, but for 
selfish ends, and the public weal is jeopardized by wrongs 
known to the whole world.” Dr. Smith says that more dis¬ 
eases are introduced by seamen than by all other agencies_ 

cholera, smallpox, typhus, yellow fever, and venereal diseases, 
are more to be dreaded from sailors than from all other 
sources. The relapsing fever of 1844 was brought to Phila¬ 
delphia by Irish Immigrants, and to New York in 1869-70 
by seamen. From August, 1871, to October, 1874, out of 


*Later, the law calls for pay at the rate it costs to keep men from American 
vessels. 





19 


6075 patients treated, 1436 were affected with venereal dis¬ 
eases. Many more were treated outside the hospital, and 
many no doubt went on their way suffering. 

Dr. Judson says in Dr. Smith’s pamphlet: 

4 he diseases and deaths at the Seamen’s Retreat and at 
the New \ ork and Brooklyn City Hospitals, are in a large 
proportion the result of careless and sinful living. The sick¬ 
ness among the seamen is greatly augmented by want of light 
and air, apd the presence of filth and dampness in forecastles 
of the best sailing ships and steamers. The forecastle of the 
Helvetia, 3327 tons, measures 27 feet from the bulkhead to the 
stem, and 24 feet wide at the bulkhead; light and air ad¬ 
mitted from a hatch 6 by 4, and 2 air ports 9 inches in 
diameter, closed at sea, occupied by 28 men in 2 watches, 
very dark, and wet from leaky deck. The City of Antwerp, 
1625 tons ; sailors on port side, firemen on starboard ; ap¬ 
proached by a circuitous passage, through which air and light 
comes ; ventilation, one stove-pipe hole and five air ports, open 
only in smooth water, and occupied by 22 men in 2 watches; 
dark, damp, offensive, the firemen’s quarters the same, but are 
still more offensive from the proximity to the steerage pas¬ 
senger’s “ water-closets.”* The forecastle of the sailing ship 
Constantine, 1280 tons, is also described as quite as bad as 
these, and Dr. Woodworth describes the forecastle of the ship 
Surprise of New York, built, I regret to say, in Boston, “ 1005 
tons, 22 years old, rebuilt 8 years ago; top-gallant forecastle, 
23 feet from the stem to the bulkhead; sixteen feet wide at 
this point, 6 feet high ; at the after end are water-closets, and 
in the centre the windlass and chains; nine berths on each 
side, and two 5-inch screw-lights. In heavy weather this place 
is constantly wet by the wash through hawse-holes ; this ship 
has a house on deck with ample accommodations for all her 
men, now occupied by cook’s room and galley, boatswain’s 
locker, sail room, carpenter, third mate and boys. A descrip¬ 
tion is given of the forecastle of a steamer running between 
New York and Bridgeport, somewhat less unwholesome.” 


*A water-closet for seamen and firemen is a mere leaded hole. 



20 


Dr. Smith winds up in theSe words : 

“ The forecastles of these vessels afford illustrations of Dr. 
Billing’s idea of the desire that must have governed the men 
who planned some of our prisons, namely: to see in how small 
a space human life could be maintained.” 

I have also received a pamphlet from Dr. Woodworth, entitled 
“ Safety of Ships and those who travel in them.” 

Being a paper read before the annual meeting of the Public 
Health Association in Boston, October 5, 1876. In it will be 
found some interesting statistics, and some startling facts as to the 
inspection of steamers at San Francisco by the local Government 
inspector, Captain Waterman. Among the prominent facts I 
give extracts as follows :— 

During 1875, 1,585 vessels have suffered from disaster on 
our shores, of which 85 were foreigners. Of these 477 were 
by collisions; 209 from carelessness, and 812 involving total 
loss of $10,000,000, and 888 lives. 

The Board of Trade of Great Britain gives a list of 150 
vessels not heard from in 1873-4, and supppsed to have gone 
down with 2,881 persons. Including these there were in the 
same year 6,084 as having suffered disaster, involving a loss of 
6,817 lives. During ten years ending June 30, 1874, there 
were 22,098 causalties reported on the coasts of Great Britain, 
over 25 per cent, of which were total wrecks, involving a loss 
of 8,200 lives and $90,000,000 of property. 

Of United States merchant vessels suffering in 1874-5, 832 
were under 10 years old, 478 over 10 and under 25 ; 95 
between 25 and 50, and over 11 per cent, age unknown. Of 
the vessels lost on British coasts 923 were over 50. 12 of these 
over 100, and over 10 per cent, unknown. 

Among the interesting -facts contained in Dr. Woodworth’s 
paper, I find a note quoting what is said in the 33d report of 
the English Emigrant Commission to the following effect:_ 

Less than 2 per cent, of the emigrants were carried in sailing 
ships. The proportion who go in steamers has constantly 
increased since 1863, when it amounted to less than 46 per 
cent, of the whole. 

The resort to steamers has much diminished the mortality. 
Among 230,531 in 545 voyages to the United States, the deaths 


21 


were 102, equal to a mortality of 13.88 per 1,000 per annum. 
Since the main body of Mr. Woodworth’s paper was written, 
returns for 1878 show that during 1856 only 5,111 were 
brought to the United States in 22 steam trips, against 136,459 
in 552 sail trips; during 1873 there came 258,519 in 675 
steam trips, against only 9,344 in 54 sail trips. 

In a letter from Dr. Woodworth, dated January 11, 1878, 
I find that the collections from hospital money during the last 
fiscal year amounted to $372,465, and the expenses to $368,395 
showing a balance of $4,070, and that 15,175 seamen were 
relieved the last year. 

From my own experience of ships before my retirement from 
active business, the facts stated in the paper on “emigrants and 
sailors ” were perfectly true. 

Nothing short of the black hole of Calcutta could exceed 
the unwholesomeness of the dens into which sailors were 
housed. I am surprised, not to say mortified, to learn that a 
first-class merchant ship as was the Surprise, under command 
of Captain Dumaresq, built in Boston, should have so far 
deteriorated as to deserve the illustration engraved in the 
pamphlet alluded to. Since the custom of lodging men in 
deck houses has come into vogue, seamen have been more com¬ 
fortably lodged. 

But the cupidity of ship-owners has been such, in many 
cases, as to curtail the quarters so much that men are still, in 
many ships, too crowded in small deck houses or thrust into 
forecastles under deck in the most uncomfortable part of the 
ship. How can we hope that a better class of young men will 
be induced to adopt a sea life, unless we provide quarters for 
them, at least as good as we provide for our cattle ? We must 
not only encourage education for the sea, but we must insure to 
them healthy food and good quarters ; good treatment and some 
provision for old age to those who do not rise to be officers or 
captains and require homes after faithful service. I have often 
asked the question why Boston should not do something for 
Nautical Education ? According to the report of the School 
Committee for 1876, there are 235 school-houses within the 
limits of the city, under the care of 1,306 teachers, containing 
49,423 pupils, costing in— 


22 


Current expenses.$1,737,634.27 

For School-houses. 277,746.57 


Total.$2,015,380.84 

The cost of salaries alone is stated at. 1,235,375.24 

The cost per pupil with incidentals is. 36.15 


When some years ago I interested myself in doing something 
for Nautical Education, the State organized the branch of the 
Westborough Reform School on board of the Massachusetts, 
and afterwards added the George M. Barnard, but these schools 
were never popular, and ship-owners and masters did not like 
to receive boys from a reformatory institution, for this or some 
other reason connected with the cost of maintaining them they 
were abandoned,—many of the boys went to sea and main¬ 
tained a good standing,—still the institution was never very 
popular, and although I was actively engaged in promoting it, 
I confess that it was never to my taste. I then interested my¬ 
self to induce the City to establish a Nautical School, but I 
was informed that there was no law permitting special training 
for any industrial trade, and so the subject has rested until now. 

Bye and bye, in March, 1872, an Act was passed chapter 80, 
entitled an Act to authorise cities and towns to establish indus¬ 
trial schools, and to “ prescribe the arts, trades, and occupa¬ 
tions to be taught in such schools.” Another clause in the Act 
says, nothing in this Act shall authorize the committee to 
compel any scholar to study any trade, arts or occupation with¬ 
out the consent of parent or guardian ; and that attendance 
upon such school shall not take the place of the attendance upon 
public schools required by law” The only objection I see to 
organizing a Nautical School, on shore or afloat, by this Act is 
in the closing part which I have called attention to by under¬ 
lining. It would be inconvenient, if not impossible, to 
organize a floating school and have pupils spend only a part of 
their time on board; and to establish the semblance of a ship 
upon the shore, as at Greenwich would furnish a poor medium, 
compared to a floating sea going school for the effective training 
of youth. 

No doubt if no other grave objection should exist the Legis¬ 
lature would alter this clause so as to enable the City to have 
a bona fide Nautical sea going school. Surely seamanship and 








23 


navigation are industrial arts, so that there cannot be any 
objection on that account.* Let us see if there can be brought 
any objection on the score of cost. The United States have 
already given or loaned two ships of war, the Jamestown in 
California, and the St. Mary’s at New York, ready fitted for 
school ships,—for the purpose of Nautical training. I have 
before me a letter from the late resident minister to the Sand¬ 
wich Islands, H. A. Peirce, Esq., in which he says :— 

“ I left Honolulu, October 25, in the Jamestown, as a guest 
of my friend, Captain Henry Glass, and arrived here in 23 
days. She was manned principally by 83 boys, mostly sons of 
respectable persons, not more than three or four ‘ hoodlums ’ 
were on board. I found Captain Glass and officers admirably 
adapted for the education of these boys; besides instruction in 
the three 4 R’s,’ navigation and seamanship are taught. Nearly 
all the duties of the ship, such as making and taking in sail, 
furling, reefing, Ac., were done by them ; they had no help from 
the few old salts of the crew; many of the older ones are 
admirable steersmen. I consider the school an admirable insti¬ 
tution and worthy of imitation by other cities.” 

The St. Mary’s at New York is not a reformatory school and 
is considered a success ; it is under the management of the 
Board of Education. 

There is also another school ship at New York, the Mercury, 
provided entirely by the city. A ship being 

provided by Government, of which there can be no reasonable 
doubt, the expense of maintaining 150 or 200 boys, considering 
that their school house is furnished them without cost would not 
be very heavy, perhaps, not more than the cost of a magnificent 
brick building with the land involving a large amount of interest. 
When the city is expending annually over two millions of 
dollars, of whicli nearly $300,000 is for the houses, it would 
seem that the experiment so well illustrated in New York and in 
San Francisco should be tried in Boston, and, indeed, in all our 
principal cities in and out of the State. If we are to maintain 
the honor of the flag in time of peace or in time of war, we 
must do something more than we have done towards the educa¬ 
tion and encouragement of young aspirants for a sea life. In 


*A petition is preparing asking legislation on this point. 




24 


former times the sons of gentlemen, well to do in the world, 
went to sea and soon become officers and masters. There are 
many men still living who can remember the Union, the 
Panther, the Zephyr, the Jacob Jones and an hundred others, 
partially manned by the best youth in the country,—while I 
cannot recall the names of many of the commanders of these fine 
ships, I cannot forget that Oxnard, Austin and Cleveland, were 
among them; no man ever sailed with these men without boast¬ 
ing of it during their whole lives; I cannot boast of having been 
brought up in a school quite equal to these, but when I came to 
command a ship at the early age of 20, I endeavored to follow 
in their footsteps, and I believe that during my short experience 
as captain from 1824 to 1832. I found many situations for 
young men as officers; once out of a crew of 15 or 16, seven 
went as officers. Now, ship-masters have little time to do more 
than take care of the sailing of their ships. The stevedore, 
the rigger, and the blacksmith do nearly all the work formerly 
done by the officers and crew. 

I have already stated that the crews of fishing vessels 
and canal boats do not pay hospital money, and it is pre¬ 
sumed that they have no claim to be taken into a United 
States Marine Hospital; this does not seem to me as giving 
encouragement to a class of most worthy men, on whom we are 
to fall back, in a great measure, to man our navy in time of war. 

While on the subject of hospital relief I shall quote in short 
hand from the exhaustive report of the Surgeon General for 
1875. At the end of the fiscal year, 30th June, 1875, it is 
said, that “ in 94 inland and seaports fifteen thousand and more 
seamen were relieved with 405,665 days treatment. Never 
before have so many been treated, this was owing to the falling 
off of business when there are always many more sick than 
among the actively employed, and to the severe winter of 
1874-5 when so many vessels were ice-bound on the coasts.” 
This seems to answer the doubt expressed above as to whether 
fishermen have a right to go to a United States Hospital. 
“ The large number of men in hospitals also decreased the 
receipts from hospital money. The amount covered into the 
treasury for 1875 was $338,893.78, and the net expenditures 
were $404,390.60.” 


25 


I have had the impression that a large fund had accumulated 
at Washington from hospital money, but from the report of the 
Surgeon-General, I perceive that “ for thirty years preceding 
1873, deficiency appropriations have been made averaging 
$124,713 per annum.” 

Since May, 1875, “ every vessel subject to hospital tax, 
except those obliged to carry crew lists, shall keep a seaman’s 
time book, and the returns of hospital money must conform 
thereto.” Formerly the charge for the care of foreign seamen 
was seventy-five cents per day, but now they must pay according 
to the cost of caring for others at the place where they may 
happen to be—this cost varies considerably in the different 
ports. The same enactment provides for the care of sick from 
navy, light-house and surveying vessels, and these pay like 
foreign seamen. 

Formerly, no account was kept of property of men who died 
in the hospitals, money so received was generally used to buy 
books. In reorganizing the service, medical officers are obliged 
to report to the Surgeon-General all moneys not delivered to 
legal relatives within three months after the death of a patient. 

By the Shipping Commissioners Act effects of seamen who 
die on the voyage or in foreign ports must be paid in the first 
case to a Judge of a Circuit Court, and in the latter through a 
consul. But as the Judge has to answer any demands of a 
commission for expenses incurred by them, a very small sum 
gets into the treasury on account of unclaimed goods of seamen. 
As the amount thus received comes into the hands of the 
Surgeon-General for hospital service, he reports upon it thus : 
“ $627 is the extent of the receipts. There is practically no 
accountability required of the officers charged with the disposi¬ 
tion of these moneys, and it is recommended that a law be 
enacted to require commissioners, consuls, and commercial 
agents to report the amounts paid to the court, and that they 
be obliged to turn over to the treasury all moneys received 
within each year, and not claimed by relatives.” 

The Surgeon-General devotes several pages to measures for 
the preservation of the health of seamen. A sizeable book 
might be devoted to this subject, and not completely cover the 
ground. To strike at the root we must go through every 

4 


26 


municipality and purge it of the brothels, which are the most 
fruitful sources of disease and loss to ship-owners. 

Mr. Woodworth says: “thirty per cent, of the diseases 
affecting seamen are of a preventable character; sailors more 
than any others are propagators of disease. The preventive 
measures should extend to the seaman afloat as well as on shore. 
The elevation of his physique should be by a medical examina¬ 
tion before shipping, and by improving his quarters, and it is 
hoped that owners and masters of vessels should see that it is 
for their interest to look to these things.” 

The old law of 1790, improved in 1805 and 1872, obliges 
ship-owners to supply a medicine chest on all foreign voyages ; 
why not on all vessels carrying a crew of five or more ? and 
why should not all vessels carrying over twenty men, all told, 
have a medical man on board as in the French Marine. As to 
the medicine chests usually put into ships, the report before me 
says : “ they contain many obsolete medicines, aud where more 
modern ones are introduced they are harmful in inexperienced 
hands, because the directions have not been revised with the 
medicines.” It is recommended that a new book of directions 
should be prepared by the Marine Hospital Service and be paid 
for out of the fund. This is an excellent idea. When I was 
actively engaged in trade, I studied “ Parson’s Sailors Physi¬ 
cian,” a little work well enough suited to the times, and to the 
chest of drugs. 

Calomel and jalap, balsam copavi, castor oil, salts, laudanum, 
Friars’ balsam, sticking plaster, blue stone, blister plaster, 
lancets, syringes and bandages composed the staple articles, 
and when a sailor complained no time was lost in studying his 
symptoms, none in looking into his bodily condition; in nine cases 
out of ten, calomel and jalap worked off by glauber salts, of 
which there was always a large supply, were the rule, and if 
after this severe treatment he still complained, the poor patient 
was bled or blistered, if this did hot cure him he was deemed 
to be a skulker. 

I call to mind with a shudder the amount of glauber salts 
and foetid castor gil I have administered to poor Jack. I 
remember very well the first man I bled, a stout sailor, whose 
fever not having yielded to glauber, oil and a blister. I con- 




27 


eluded to bleed him. I looked into Parsons carefully and 
went forward armed with-lancet, bandage and basin. I sat 
him on a tub, rolled up his sleeves, applied the bandage while 
he held a broom handle firm by one end on the deck ; the poor 
fellow looked as if he thought his time had come. Never 
having seen any man bled except at the nose, I myself had 
some misgivings. Some of the crew apparently having doubts 
as to the medical training of their young captain, stood near, 
one holding the basin; the little ship was tumbling about con¬ 
siderably. Fortunately for the man and for me also, he had 
been bled before, I saw the scar, with similar feelings to the 
man who, when running for port in thick weather, sees the 
desired landmark or the welcome pilot boat. I put in the 
lancet and bled him until he became faint, not having any 
means of measuring the inky blood, I probably took enough to 
have served for a feverish horse. The man recovered !—that 
was the most wonderful part of the whole transaction. On 
another occasion I ordered one of my mates to take a certain 
number of grains of tartar emetic, which was also a favorite 
medicine of Parsons, he mistook the weight and swallowed 
enough to have killed most men, his pains were simply frightful. 
I remembered that once upon a time I had, as a boy, swallowed 
some snulf, neither my mother or myself knowing the cause of 
my sudden and violent vomiting and face making, we were 
much alarmed, and she sent for the doctor, but in the meantime 
not having any castor oil at hand gave me some common lamp 
oil. I recovered! So I gave my mate a lot of oil of some 
kind, which diverted the poison downwards, and he also 
recovered! 

Some disorders are cured by processes entirely outside of 
Parsons. Once when a passenger in a ship bound to China the 
captain consulted me as to the bad condition of one of his boys, 
the son of an old friend of mine; the captain said his legs were 
covered with sores, that he had given him sulphur, salts, oil 
and tartar emetic all to no purpose ; and he appealed to me to 
help him restore this youth to utility. I examined him and I 
saw at once the cause of his trouble. I told the captain that 
I would undertake his cure if he would follow my orders, and 
he agreed to do so. I said rattle down your top gallant 


28 


rigging, nothing more, and the boy was able in a week to furl 
the royals as well as any one. The fact is that shinning up 
and down the rigging had so scraped the poor fellow’s legs that 
he was made quite lame. 

But to go back to the means for improving the condition of 
seamen. I suggest that shipmasters should visit hospitals 
whenever they have an opportunity, and learn not only how to 
bleed a man, but also how to set a broken bone, or even to 
amputate a limb. The Surgeon-General makes some severe 
comments upon the arbitrary quarantine regulations of some of 
the States, whereby vessels are sometimes long detained, 
because at certain seasons, coming from ports where a con¬ 
tagious disease existed when they left, although no sickness 
exists on board. He thinks that the law of the United States 
“ should regulate quarantine to such an extent as that the law 
shall at least keep pace with science.” He says that the cases 
of venereal disease treated in the marine hospitals exceeded 
twenty per cent, of the total cases. The principal remedy for 
this, as I have before said, must begin at home first by getting 
rid of brothels, and next by subjecting men to an examination 
and rejecting all who are suffering. This latter will be 
attended with much difficulty, for the landlords and the crimps 
have a direct interest in getting the sailor off their hands the 
momemt his money is gone. The examination of sailors and 
soldiers for the Government is no doubt enforced during peace 
when the emergency does not require winking at slight imper¬ 
fections. Rheumatic complaints, according to my experience, 
arise mostly from bad accommodations and the absence of a 
good slop-chest fitted with good clothing to be served out to the 
sailors at cost. More or less scurvy is treated at the hospitals : 
the disease is the result of improper food, bad habits, and long 
voyages, and generally attacks men who come from a long voy¬ 
age and go again on another, carrying the seeds of disease 
with them ; it is often accelerated by depressing passions, hence 
the necessity for keeping the men employed, and allowing them 
all the amusements consistent with due discipline. Music 
should be sought for ; a good cook or steward who can play the 
fiddle ought by all means to be encouraged. 


29 


The report of 1875 gives us a map showing the localities of 
the hospitals all over the United States: it would be improved 
by marking upon it the location of life-saving stations. We 
learn from the report that the men of the life-saving service are 
examined as to their physical qualities by an officer of the hos¬ 
pital service, and that out of 728 men employed, only two have 
died of disease. Among the good words which should be kept 
before our legislators I would put the following, coming from 
Dr. Sawtelle, who occasionally visits the life-saving stations. 

“ If the physical examination of seamen were enforced on all 
vessels of the mercantile marine, one of the causes of ship¬ 
wreck, the unseaworthiness of crews, would be removed, and 
the labor of the life-saving service would be lessened.” 

Judging from my own experience at sea, I can truly say that 
a large proportion of the men who go to sea on foreign voyages, 
more especially at starting, are unfit for arduous duty; intem¬ 
perance was formerly one of the chief causes of shipwreck and 
other losses; but among the grog-loving sailors there were 
many gallant tars unknown to my later experience. 

Alluding to what I have already said in reference to medicine 
chests, I gather from the closing pages of the report of 1875 
some interesting facts which should be kept in mind by owners 
and masters of vessels. 

The Act of 1790 required every vessel of one hundred and 
fifty tons and over, manned by ten or more persons and bound 
on a foreign voyage, to have a medicine chest. An Act of 
March, 1805, extended this to vessels of seventy-five tons and 
over, navigated by six persons or more, bound to the West 
Indies. The Revised Statutes of the United States of 1874 
made this applicable to any vessel of seventy-five tons or over, 
sailing for any foreign or Pacific port. 

In the closing pages of the report it is recommended to apply 
the law to both sailing and steam vessels in the coasting trade. 
But, as a little learning is a dangerous thing in medicine, the 
directions for using them should be carefully drawn under some 
more competent person than the average outfitter of ships. 

In the very last page of the report for 1875, Dr. Murray, of 
Key West, says that it is advisable for Government to require 
all vessels having a crew of four or more , to carry medicine 


30 


chests proportioned to the crew . When we look to the necessi¬ 
ties, often encountered, of shipwrecked men taken off by small 
craft, we cannot but coincide with Dr. Murray’s views, and I 
go a step further by recommending that all vessels likely to be 
a day at sea should be compelled to have a medicine chest just 
as much as a side-light or a fog-horn. The report is full of 
statistics, and it gives particulars as to the different diseases, 
and the number of persons treated. Among the diseases, I see 
some which were not formerly alluded to in the “ Seamen’s 
Physician,” by Parsons:—such as phlebitis. He says nothing 
about bugbites, or lousebites or centepedbites, all of which 
were formerly very common. In my day Comb on the human 
understanding was a work much in use. 

But let me leave off all jumping and crawling conclusions 
and go back to the report of Dr. Woodworth for L873, wherein 
the subject of medical examination is discussed. He says the 
service promises to be self-sustaining, and would surely become 
so if preventable diseases were lessened by an examination of 
seamen before shipping. He says his attention was called by 
finding many men in the hospitals who had never been jit for 
their duties. 

In the discussion of Mr. Plimsoll’s agitation, the London 
Lancet stated that ten per cent, of all the men who ship are 
unfit for duty, and Capt. Williams, referring to the loss of the 
Atlantic, testified that only ten good seamen out of forty would 
be an unusually sound crew ! The English law providing for an 
examination of seamen, according to a report of the Board of 
Trade, is practically a dead letter, depending as it does on an 
agreement between owner and man to have it done. The 
Surgeon-General offers the suggestion that no man should have 
the benefit of the hospital fund if he shipped knowing that he 
was disabled from performing his duty; this would be.so far 
good that it would be an inducement for men to seek an exami¬ 
nation On the other hand, it may be said that strong, well 
men never think of going to the hospital, and it may also be 
said that the poor sailor, perhaps enfeebled by bad treatment or 
by neglect and bad example, should not be punished in that way, 
but by a reduction of his wages while disabled by his own 
imprudence, or by being made to pay for a substitute. Among 




31 


the absurdities of the hospital expenditures I would refer to 
a marine hospital at Burlington, Iowa, authorized in 1854, site 
bought in 1856, building finished in 1858 ; between May 1 and 
December 31, 1861, the first patient was admitted ; between 
September, 1863 and January, 1874, four more were admitted. 
In August, 1864, the building was transferred to the army for 
sick and wounded soldiers, and in 1867 the whole concern, 
costing nearly $30,000, was sold for $6,000. Another hospital 
for seamen at Burlington, Yt., erected 1856-8, and never 
occupied, was sold in 1866 for $7,164, costing nearly $39,572 ! 
Another, at Wilmington, N. C., built in 1858-60, cost $43,897, 
was sold in 1870 for $4,020, never having been used as a 
marine hospital. And lastly one at Galena, Ill., completed 
1859, opened in 1861, and maintained four and a half years 
with rarely more than one or two patients, and often without 
any, cost $47,797, and sold in 1868 for $7,321 ! 

The old system, or want of system in furnishing relief to 
seamen by contract outside the hospitals to the highest bidder, 
and which was upheld by Secretaries Guthrie and Cobb, was 
put an end to by the Act of June 10, 1872, (17 Stat. 217). 
The abuses to which that system led resulted in the reorganiza¬ 
tion of the service in 1870. In the report for 1873 is con¬ 
tained a striking picture by Dr. Heber Smith of the condition 
of sailors sailing out of New York. Their condition was 
sought to be improved by the Act of June, 1872, which is 
substantially similar to the English Shipping Act. If properly 
administered, Mr. Smith thinks the law a good one, but as the 
execution of it is opposed by some of the runners and boarding 
house keepers whose interest lies in keeping the sailor within 
their power. “ The law gives the commissioner the fees up to 
$5,000 per annum, but the practical construction of the Act is 
such that this sum can be swelled to an indefinite amount 
through various expenses. The result is an unjust interpreta¬ 
tion of the Act by which the commissioner enforces the 
collection of fees from the seamen for discharging and shipping 
every trip, no matter how short, though he may remain on 
board, and this continuously for months, going through the 
formality of shipping and discharging each trip.” 

An illustration of the way this works is given by Mr. Smith, 
the substance of which I give u A sailor applying for 


32 


hospital relief said that the steamer he belongs to averages a 
trip per month, and that there is very little change in the crews 
from month to month ; in fact they are not discharged at all 
but the formalities have to be gone through with. The sailor 
is thereby taxed fifty cents to swell the fees of the commis¬ 
sioner, but is deprived of pay while in port. The owners keep 
quiet because the two dollars shipping fee which they have to 

pay Captain-, is less than the wages would be while the 

vessel is in port.*” 

Having myself no knowledge of the working of the Shipping 
Act, I can offer no special information as to the correctness of 
this statement. Mr. Smith goes on to say that the system of 
advance wages is the cause of most of the seamen’s troubles ; 
the sailor should make his own bargain, just as the captain 
makes one with his mate or carpenter. He paints in vivid 
colors the hopeless condition of the poor sailor who comes 
home to dens of filth and pollution; he says that sections 17, 
19, make an attempt to restrict the advance wages, but the law 
is easily evaded ; he says that there are some a little more 
comfortable temperance houses where sailors go ; among them 
the Sailor’s Home under the auspices of the Seamans’ Friend 
Society, but he falls very far short of a complimentary notice 
of this Society. Mr. Smith concludes his paper by giving the 
history of the earliest tax imposed upon the sailor more than 
one hundred and twenty years ago by the City of New York 
for quarantine purposes. My space will not admit of quoting 
from this history. In 1853 when the United States decided 
that the tax on passengers in New York State was unconsti¬ 
tutional, it was supposed that it would exempt sailors from the 
burthen of the tax, but on the 7th April, 1854, a State Act was 
passed which still imposed the tax on masters, mates and 
seamen. 

Much stress is laid upon the seaworthiness of ships: inspec¬ 
tors are appointed to examine them from the time the keel is 
laid, and when they are finished their characters are registered 
and their incomings and outgoings are watched most rigidly. 
If anything happens to them lynx-eyed surveyors examine them 

*1 »m informed that this docs not apply to the present time. 



1 





33 


and report upon their defects and requirements. How is it 
with the men who are to manage them ? I speak not now of 
the captains or the officers. The men are shipped just as soon 
as their money falls short; they cannot afford to linger on 
shore unless as sometimes happens they have homes and 
relatives to care for them. I speak of the mass of sailors who 
man our argosies. The landlords cannot afford to keep them 
or to give them long credit; nor is it for their interest to turn 
them adrift at short notice, so that often a debt is incurred for 
board, or for clothing and drink which can only be met by a 
lien upon his advance wages ; it is therefore for the interest 
of the landlord to place him where he can get the largest 
amount of advance wages; he is shipped, if for a foreign 
voyage, by the commissioner who receives from the owner two 
dollars for every man, and the man himself has to pay the 
commissioner twenty-five cents. Perhaps the advance pay is 
not enough to square the account and the landlord runs the 
very considerable risk of never being paid. In some trading 
vessels as those going to the British Provinces, and coasting; 
vessels, the owner or captain may ship his own crew, but all 
must be discharged through the commissioner. 

The sailor who ships in the merchant service undergoes no 
medical or other examination, and it frequently happens that a 
considerable portion of the crew have diseases or the seeds of 
diseases which make them unseaworthy, and so the gallant ship 
which has been registered by the insurance agents as A1 
becomes a bad risk. Besides the probability that more or less 
disease exists ; the men who ship as able seamen are frequently 
very ordinary seamen. It appears to me that a medical ex¬ 
amination of the men is just as important for the interests of 
owners and underwriters, to say nothing of passengers as an 
examination of the construction and the fitting of ships. In 
the case of a man shipping as able seaman and not proving 
competent to do his duty, the captain may make a deduction 
from his rate of pay. So much, in brief, as to the seaworthi¬ 
ness and competency of men before the mast. 

It is equally if not more important that the captain and offi¬ 
cers be competent; to insure this, something more than the 
captain or mates word is necessary ; of course no master is 


34 


engaged for a valuable vessel without inquiry. Where do we 
generally go to satisfy ourselves of the competency of the 
captain or mate ? To his late employer ; who for reasons of 
self interest sometimes gives him a much better standing than 
he deserves, this, according to my experience, is not a very rare 
case. If a captain has not deliberately committed some dis¬ 
honest act, and has abstained from much drink he is often 
recommended to get rid of him. 

We are not yet quite ready for the sort of examination which 
the English law requires, and if we were ready, .the chances 
are that it would be as loosely administered as it is in that 
country, where in many vessels of the lower class are seen 
many intemperate and incompetent men. In the larger class 
of vessels trading beyond the capes, and in the passenger 
steamers, I am happy to be able from good evidence to believe 
that the captains are well educated competent gentlemen. 
Referring again to the seamen employed in vessels out of 
Boston, I am informed by the shipping commissioner that not 
over one-tenth part are of American birth. A large portion, 
perhaps the largest, are from the North of Europe ; next Irish, 
and there are a considerable number of Italians, or men from 
the Mediterranean, very few Frenchmen are shipped. Most of 
these men are of good physique naturally ; many are fair sea¬ 
men ; but a great many ship as able seamen who would not 
have come up to that grade as understood in times long past. 

In the course of my inquiries as to the comparative com¬ 
petency of sailors at this day, and twenty or thirty years ago, 
I have not found a single master who does not say that they have 
deteriorated not only in morals and seamanship but also in 
physique. This is generally attributed to the fact that good 
men find better employment in mechanical or manufacturing 
establishments; that the many labor-saving processes, now in 
use, on board of ships, militate against making good “marline- 
spike sailors.” And most of all the great change .from sailing 
to steam ships. As I have said before, the stevedore, the 
blacksmith, the professional rigger and sailmaker now do much 
of the work formerly done on board the ship. I have asked 
several intelligent captains and merchants, of not very ancient 
dates, if they ever see square rigged ships beating up and down 


our harbor, and they all say that it seems to be a lost art. I 
have not been much about our wharves, and for sometime have 
had nothing to do with ships ; but I am informed by those who 
are still in active business, that it is very rare to see ships come 
into port from long voyages looking as if they were manned by 
competent seamen. It is very often found that among a crew of 
twenty men not half a dozen can be called good helmsmen or good 
leadsmen, and as to rigging and sailmaking there are still fewer. 

It is no doubt true that the introduction of the double topsail 
rig, which has been a great blessing to sailors, and wire rope, 
have done something to lessen the number of what were called 
able seamen in former times. The introduction also of the 
large number of fore-and-aft vessels, particularly the three 
masted schooners, has had the tendency to curtail the number 
of bona fide seamen. In those days a sou-wester, an oil coat, 
a pair of jack boots and a sheath knife constitute the principal 
outfit of the sailor. But while we must lament the fact of this 
falling off, it will be admitted that the merchants, ship-owners 
and masters are somewhat to blame for not encouraging the 
establishment of training ships, and for not taking apprentices. 

While writing, my attention has been called to a long article 
upon industrial schools, in the Transcript of January IT. Here 
are two columns of facts and speculations all tending to encour¬ 
age the idea of industrial schools for teaching arts and trades 
on the land. Nothing is said as to an industrial school for 
seamen. In stating some of the grounds for not encouraging 
the schools for the mechanical arts, it is said “ that we produce 
more than can be disposed of profitably .” This may be very 
true as to manufactures, but it cannot be said by any one that 
the manufacture or the training of good boys for seamen is 
overdone ; far from it, the supply falls far short of the demand. 

I wish the writer, above alluded to, had been born web-footed, 
or that he would in his next paper say a few words as to 
Nautical industrial Schools. 

Here is a good place to suggest that a school may have the 
means for partially training boys for seamen without incurring 
the expense of a bona fide seagoing ship ; an old hulk suitably 
fitted, as in the heart of Paris, would be cheaper ; and a still 
cheaper machine may be constructed, for a da^ r school, by 


36 


placing a representation of the deck, bulwarks, masts, rigging, 
sails, &c., of a ship upon a platform to be revolved upon a turn 
table, such as is used for turning locomotives ; this dummy ship 
would be revolved by the capstan, so that it could be -used for 
other purposes, when not in gear to tack ship. Surround the 
ship by a netting so that in exercising the boys aloft in taking 
in and making sail, sending spars up and down a fall from aloft 
would be less dangerous. 

I have seen such a ship at Greenwich except that she was 
stationary. I look upon the ability to turn the dummy ship as 
most important in teaching nautical evolutions. While I do 
not advocate a stationary hulk, or a turn table ship, as in any 
degree comparable to a seagoing ship, it is clear that the cost 
would be much less to a city, and that the training boys would 
get,'would not materially interfere with other studies now made 
obligatory by law. 

The turn table ship would be a very valuable addition to the 
Boston Farm School or to the Westborough Reform School, 
and would not be very much out of place as a gymnasium in the 
Technological School of Boston. 

The writer of the article in the Transcript expresses the 
hope that twenty years hence we may have “ a university of 
preparation for the useful arts” I trust that it will not require 
so long a time to awaken an interest in nautical training. The 
United States has done something in this line. In the report 
of the Secretary of the Navy for 1876: I find that in 1875 
there were 260 boys enlisted for the navy, under training until 
the age of 21, and in 1876, 479. There were on board of the 
training ships, Minnesota, 139 ; Monongahela, 82 ; 258 had 
passed out of the training ships into the navy. The Sabine at 
Portsmouth, .N.H., and the Portsmouth at San Francisco, were 
engaged on this duty, but were withdrawn for want of recruits 
offering. The Supply was employed during 1877 in this 
business, making a cruise with 125 boys from the Minnesota. 
The Junita also made a similar cruise with boys. The plan 
was to keep the boys one year in training before placing them 
on board of sea going ships. In the report of the Secretary 
for 1877, I find that under section 1418 of the Revised 
Statutes the navy is authorised to enlist boys between 16 and 


37 


18 years of age, to serve until they are 21. This report states 
that there are 458 boys under training, and that 324 had 
gone into the service. The Secretary says: “ Already the 
system has worked so well that it is desirable it should receive 
encouragement by further legislation; as the number of men 
allowed by law has been reduced to 7,500. If Congress should 
empower the department to enlist 750 boys annually in addition 
to the men the beneficial effects would soon be manifest; this 
would supply the navy in time of peace, and form a nucleus for 
a larger force in the event of war; the cost would not exceed 
$90,000, chargeable to the pay of the navy, a sum comparatively 
small in view of the advantages which would inure to the 
service and the country from this system of training.” 

In 1875, Capt. Nathaniel Spooner, a gentleman of experi¬ 
ence, who has always had his eyes open and his pen well 
nibbed, read before the Marine Society of Boston, a paper 
relating to the “ toilers of the sea,” in which he sets forth 
graphically the many difficulties under which the ship owner, 
captain, officers and crew have to contend from laws badly 
constructed or badly administered. I agree with him in most 
of his statements, and I approve of most of his remedies for the 
existing evils—omitting some of the poetry which was neces¬ 
sary to keep so many old salts of the Marine Society awake, I 
should like to embody the gist of his remarks herein ; but space 
is wanting to do more than allude briefly to some of his points. 

He says that the old jack tar, with tarpaulin hat, full of 
geniality, quaint oaths and generous to a fault, has gone out of 
date; that with the exception of a very few young men who go 
to sea with the intention of soon getting upon the quarter deck, 
and with the exception of the sailor of Northern Europe before 
he gets spoiled , the majority of our seamen are the refuse of 
our large cities, and that this applies most in the Atlantic trade. 

He says that now, out of a crew of twenty men, often per¬ 
haps not five have a change of clothing; crews of well clad, 
well behaved, and well trained seamen are among the things 
that are past. Is his elevation not possible ? The difficulties 
are many, it is not easy to find a fulcrum for your moral lever. 
Among the measures best calculated for his moral improve¬ 
ment are the abolition of advance wages ; the suppression of 


38 


the crimp, or sailor runner; suitable laws to prevent and 
punish desertion; encouragement of respectable homes; re¬ 
wards for faithful performance of duty under trying circum¬ 
stances. Another movement in the right direction is the act 
for which we are mainly indebted to Capt. S. B. Line, of the 
navy, whereby the government provides ships for training 
schools. In regard to the responsibilities resting upon ship¬ 
masters, Captain Spooner ought to be more fully quoted. He 
says: “ There is no profession that calls for such general 
knowledge as that of a high class shipmaster. He must know 
something of the duties of carpenter, calker,* spar maker, 
blacksmith, cooper, cook, tailor, nurse and undertaker; he 
must be something of a lawyer, physician and surgeon, and he 
must know something of the duties of a clergyman. 5 ’ Then 
he pathetically describes a burial at sea; he is a strong advo¬ 
cate for the examination and rating of masters and officers ; 
they should be recorded in the books of underwriters like the 
ship, A No. 1, B No. 2, Ac., Ac. It is undoubtedly true, as he 
says, that many of our volunteer officers who did so much to 
sustain the nation in the rebellion, have never had the credit 
due them from the government. 

The Marine Society of Boston is appealed to for aid towards 
the improvement of our mercantile marine. While the city of 
Boston is spending millions annually for schools, for parks, 
for water, and for the general health, nothing is doing to es¬ 
tablish a training ship for respectable youth. In order to elicit 
the opinion of Capt. S. upon the present status of the sailor, I 
wrote to him. He answered in general terms that there has 
been a marked falling off in the character of seamen ; he says 
no square rigged vessel of any size ever beats in or out of our 
harbor, and they seldom go or come when the weather is fair 
without a tug boat. Occasionally a ship comes into port in 
good order, these are the exceptions, the rule is every thing in 
disorder. As to training young men at sea by captains, it is 
seldom done, and he doubts if captains generally are them¬ 
selves fitted to teach navigation; and if the young men of the 
day who go to sea have much of the old ambition to become 
masters ; they come mostly from a different class from the 
young men of the old school. 


39 


Referring once more to the feasability of giving masters and 
mates a standing after an examination, I confess that so much 
would depend upon the character of the law, as well as of the 
examiner under it, that I do not think the time has come to 
carry out such a law as would be useful. Some years after we 
shall have established at least one well organized training ship 
in every principal seaport in the Union , it may be well to call 
for a law similar to that which is partially in force in England. 
At this time, if we were to call for an examination of masters 
and chief mates under a law such as that, the majority would 
not be able to pass examination. I must not be understood as 
disparaging the characters of our shipmasters generally ; and 
fully believe that we have as many capable men in our foreign 
trade as there are in any other country; but many who are good 
seamen, and who know enough of navigation to carry a ship 
safely to any part of the world, cannot answer many of the 
questions which a naval cadet of one year’s standing at Anna¬ 
polis can readily solve. On the other hand, there are many 
young officers from that high school in responsible places, who 
would be entirely at a loss under some circumstances where 
the illiterate merchant skipper would be perfectly at home. 

Something has been said, in the earlier pages of this paper, 
in regard to turning seameu out of a United States Hospital 
after a certain time whether cured or not. A recent letter from 
the Surgeon-General, and a reference to circulars issued since 
he came into the management of the hospitals requires this 
opinion to be materially modified. I am informed by the 
courtesy of this gentlemen, “ that while the law seems to con¬ 
template only temporary relief, still all seamen, (including 
foreigners sailing under the flag,) are admitted to hospitals 
when discharged, even when their disease, or injury may be 
considered incurable. After an incurable case has been in 
hospital several months and there is no hope of a cure, if the 
patient is able to move about, he is sent to his home, if he lias 
one, at the Government expense ; if confined to his bed he is 
never turned out, the law does not compel me to do an inhuman 
act. All cases of doubt, not covered by the regulations, are 
reported to this office for decision. I always give the seaman 
the benefit of a doubt.” 


40 


“ In each and every case where a doubt exists as to 
whether or not the applicant is actually entitled to relief from 
the Marine-Hospital Fund under the regulations, the application 
must be immediately referred to the department for decision, 
accompanied by a statement of all the facts in the case; and 
when in a case of this character the seaman is in such condition 
that immediate medical or surgical attendance is absolutely 
necessary, he may be admitted to hospital pending the decision 
of the Department—as, for instance, when a man, soon after 
entering upon his seafaring service, is seriously injured while 
in the line of his duty.” 

Alluding to what I have said as to hospital money, I find on 
inquiry that fishermen pay like other seamen, and have conse¬ 
quently the same claim upon the hospitals. In the navy the 
tax is twenty cents a month for officers and men, towards what 
is called “ Navy Hospital Fund,” from which navy pensions 
are paid. In regard to the use of hospitals by certain vessels 
of the Government, (not revenue vessels which stand on the 
same footing as merchant vessels,) I refer to the following 
extract from a treasury circular, dated June 23, 1875 :— 

“ Sick and disabled destitute American seamen from foreign 
ports will be admitted to United States Marine-Hospitals for 
care and treatment upon application of United States consular 
officers. 

“ Sick and disabled seamen employed on vessels of the 
engineer corps of the army, on vessels of the navy, and on 
vessels of the coast-survey and light-house service will be 
admitted to the benefits of the Marine-Hospital Service upon 
application of their respective commanding officers. 

“You are,-therefore, directed to issue permits for hospital 
relief to seamen of the vessels above enumerated, in accordance 
with the foregoing, and to render separate accounts for their 
treatment and maintenance, in order that reimbursements of 
the actual expenses incurred may be made to the Marine- 
Hospital Fund. 

“ The rate of charge for the care of such seamen of United 
States Marine Hospitals, class 1, will be fixed from time to 
time by the Secretary of the Treasury for each hospital 
separately.” 


41 


“ Washington, March 26, 1875. 

“ So much of sections 48 and 105 of the Regulations , United 
States Marine-Hospital Service , 1873, as relates to the rate of 
charge for the care of foreign seamen in marine hospitals is 
hereby repealed, and the charge for such care will be fixed from 
time to time by the Secretary of the Treasury for each hospital 
separately, as provided by paragraph 6 of 44 An Act to promote 
economy and efficiency in the Marine-Hospital Service .” 

Approved March 3, 1875.” 

By the courtesy of Admiral Mullany, governor of the only 
naval asylum supported by the United States, and which 
is located near Philadelphia, where the dreams of old salts 
will never be disturbed by the roar of surf, or sight of ships, 
I have learned certain facts in regard to it which will be 
interesting in estimating how many poor sailors who contribute 
for the better part of their lives to the support of hospitals ever 
live to enjoy the benefit of their contributions. 

In July, 1798, a law was enacted calling for a deduction of 
twenty cents per month from the wages of merchant seamen for 
a 44 Marine Hospital Fund.” 

March 2, 1799, the above amount was assessed upon the 
wages of all persons in the navy for the same fund, and the 
navy men were to have the same right to the hospital as the 
merchant seamen. At the same date, the portion of prize- 
money belonging to Government was set aside for a pension 
fund for the benefit of naval men, and the Secretaries of the 
Treasury, of War and of the Navy were appointed commis¬ 
sioners of that fund. 

April 23, 1800, the Act of March 2, 1799, was repealed 
and re-enacted in the same form in connection with a new form 
of distribution of prize money. The Government portion to 
be a pension fund forever. The same commissioners were 
appointed. 

February 26, 1811, the Navy Hospital Fund .was created,, 
and the same commissioners were appointed to take charge ot 
its affairs and of naval hospitals, and 150,000 were transferred 
from the Marine Hospital Fund to that of the Navy ; the same 
being balance of collections under the Acts of March, 1799, 
6 


42 


and April, 1800. The commissioners were required to procure 
sites for naval hospitals, and they were to provide an asylum 
for disabled and decrepit navy officers, seamen and marines, to 
be organized under authority of the Secretary of the Navy. 
Persons entitled to pensions when admitted to a naval hospital, or 
to the asylum were to relinquish the same to the commissioners. 

In June, 1826, the property where the asylum stands was 
bought, and the mansion house (now removed) was occupied 
as a hospital. In 1833, the Act of 1811 was carried out by 
building the present asylum. In June, 1834, it was opened in 
charge of Lieutenant James B. Cooper. At the same time the 
naval hospitals at Charlestown, (Chelsea?) Brooklyn, Norfolk, 
Pensacola were being erected. 

July 10, 1832, the Commissioners of the Navy Hospital 
and Navy Pension Funds closed their accounts, and transferred 
all funds and powers to the Secretary of the Navy, who has 
had charge to this day. 

Appropriations were made for repairs, improvements, Ac., 
until 1858, but not for the support of beneficiaries , that being 
borne by the Naval Hospital Fund. June 12, 1858, a 
special appropriation was made for this purpose amounting to 
$26,392. 

March 1, 1869, it was provided that all sums appropriated 
then and hereafter for the asylum shall come out of the income 
of the Navy Pension Fund ; the support of the inmates was so 
charged, but all other items were paid from the general appro¬ 
priations until March 3, 1873, when the whole expense was 
ordered to be paid out of the pension fund; since then all 
expenses have been so paid, and no part of the fund arising 
from the twenty cents per month tax is applied to the asylum. 
Naval hospitals are supported from the Naval Hospital Fund 
derived from said tax, and draw nothing from the pension fund 
except the pensions of patients as before stated. 

The tax of twenty cents for marine hospital fund, paid by 
the navy, has no direct connection with the tax, now forty 
cents, upon the seamen of merchant marine and revenue. 

The naval asylum, near Philadelphia, is the only one of the 
kind in the country under the control of the government; 
the bureau of docks and yards has cognizance of its affairs. 


43 


The rule for the admission of seamen is, that a man must 
have served twenty years in the navy, and he must be certified 
by a naval surgeon as physically incapable of earning his liv¬ 
ing ; but the Navy Department can, and sometimes does, make 
exceptions. 

There is one point that seems to require explanation. It is 
said that persons entitled to pensions when admitted to a naval 
hospital, or to the government asylum, are to give them up to the 
commissioners. This seems to be all very well as relates to the 
latter, where they are supposed to find a permanent home. But 
to abandon a pension when going into a navy hospital, from 
which he may be sent out cured, would not seem to be right; 
and I take it for granted, that a man coming out of a naval 
hospital can still draw a pension, supposed to have been given 
to him on account of wounds. 

I shall fall short of my duty to the seaman, as well as to 
the shipowner, if I remain silent as to the injustice under the 
law relating to the payment of three months’ extra wages in the 
event of discharging a man in a foreign port, even where the 
man is anxious to go, and the captain desirous of getting rid 
of him. 

According to the statement of the law in the official log 
book—given to captains -by the shipping commissioners—a 
consul may, upon the application of any man for a discharge 
in a foreign port, grant it, if he finds that the man is entitled 
to it under any law of the United States, and shall require 
three months’ extra pay; but if upon inquiry he finds that the 
cause of discharge is dereliction from duty, the consul may 
remit the extra pay. Two-thirds of the amount paid to the 
consul is paid over to the seaman upon his engagement in 
any vessel to return to the United States, and the other third is 
reserved for the purpose of paying for the passage home of 
any who may be citizens of the States. Unhappily, many cap¬ 
tains who find wages lower in foreign ports, or from any cause, 
want to get rid of the men, treat them so that they desert, 
when the extra three months, and possibly something due, are 
saved. 

In these days, when we are not obliged to have two-thirds 
of the crew Americans, or men entitled to citizenship, and when 


44 


it is said that a large portion of our crews consist of foreign¬ 
ers, the law does not appear to bear very hard on shipowners. 
But Captain Spooner says, in an article addressed to the Boston 
Post, in July, 1875: “ Why a perfectly well man of any na¬ 
tion should not be discharged by mutual agreement between 
him and the captain, and upon the receipt of his wages, without 
reference to the consul or to the extra pay, is a mystery.” He 
says that in some foreign ports, as Liverpool, “ for every sea¬ 
man shipped in the United States, of whatever nationality, and 
leaving for any cause or without any cause, the shipowner must 
pay the three months’ extra , and that all payments must be made 
in gold or its equivalent. “ This would seem to bear very 
hard upon the owners, especially if they have just paid a 
month’s wages in advance for a run of twenty days. In a 
voyage to China, California, Australia or the East Indies, 
when he has paid two months’ advance the loss would be con¬ 
siderably less. After all the difficulties growing out of deser¬ 
tions and payment of extra wages, and bringing home consular 
waifs for a sum oftentimes not over a tenth part of the value 
of the food they consume ; we must go back to the root of the 
evils complained of; and this is the want of a system of 
training for young men of good characters, who shall serve 
a year in a bona fide seagoing school-ship. The establish¬ 
ment of vessels for this purpose in twenty of our seaports 
would do more to lessen the evils under which shipowners 
now suffer than all the other palliatives that I can call to 
mind. A dummy ship upon the land may be very well for a 
poor institution like the farm school; and it may be very well 
for some of our small seaports Avhere all the boys are born 
web-footed, and lack only discipline and book knowledge more 
than seamanship; but to make good sailors, young men looking 
to early promotion, we must have the means to get under 
way and make short cruises. 

A smart boy may be taught to furl a royal on a rail rigged 
in the barn yard, and to throw the lead over the barn itself; 
but to prepare himself for the rough exigencies of a sea life he 
must go to sea. 

Mr. F. C. Sanford, of Nantucket, who is a reliable authority 
in all matters pertaining to nautical statistics at that place, 


45 


says in reply to my inquiry as to the decadence of seamen : 
“ Seamen have woefully receded from where they stood sixty 
years ago; one hundred years ago we sent to sea nearly 2,300 
seamen, and as a whole they were the admiration of the world ; 
common sailors had more fidelity in them than officers of the 
present day, and for fifty years past. I have known of a second 
mate deserting, and mates also. I have known of a dozen 
captains selling their ships forty years ago, and many since 
that time. When we commenced going to the Pacific in 1790, 
our men were trusted on shore without an officer, and they 
always came off in good order. Fifty years ago we began to 
degenerate, and have fallen off ever since; no one now feels 
any interest either for whaling or for mercantile pursuits. The 
reasons are clear to me ; they grow out of an immense increase 
of paupers and poor seamen from Europe. Improvements in 
steam and mechanics have had a tendency to weaken us. In 
every port we visit we find nests of debauchery and sin for the 
sailor as well as for captains and officers. This is true of 
whalers as well as others. No doubt we have some good men 
left, but they do not stand where they did when Jefferson, one 
hundred years ago, desired to sustain our fisheries as the nu¬ 
cleus for the navy. At. that time most of our seamen were 
Americans; some came from England and some from France, 
—and north of Europe. This was brought about by our people 
introducing the South Sea whaling into England and France in 
1785, both nations having large fleets at sea in 1820 and up to 
a very recent date, now there are none from England nor 
France—whaling in Pacific or South Sea whaling—unless it be 
a few from the English colonies.” 

Referring to the “ official log book,” given to every ship¬ 
master with whom the shipping commissioner comes in contact, 
I would say a word as to its value as a handbook for the 
average “ skipper.” Pages 1st, 2d and 3d, contain regulations 
and diagrams for preventing collisions at sea, fog signals, Ac. 
To this I suggest adding the following :— 


46 


I. Starboard Watch. —Two Steamships meeting. 

Port Watch. —When both Side-lights I see ahead, 

I Port my helm and show my RED. 

II. Starboard Watch. —Two Steamships passing. 

Port Watch.— GREEN to GREEN, or RED to RED, 

Perfect safety ; go ahead ! 

III. Starboard Watch. —Two Steamships crossing. 

Port Watch. —If to my Starboard RED appear, 

It is my duty to keep clear ; 

To act as judgment says is proper ; 

To Port or Starboard, Back or Stop her. 

Starboard Watch. —But when upon my Port is seen 

A Steamer’s Starboard light of GREEN, 
There’s less for me to do or say, 

The GREEN is bound to keep away. 

IV. All. —All ships must keep a good look out, 

And Steamships must stop, and go astern, if necessary ; 
Both in safety and in doubt, 

Always keep a sharp look out 
In danger, with no room to turn, 

Ease her ! Stop her! Go astern! 

Then we have the Shipping Act of 1874, covering the legis- 
lation in force relating to log books, merchant seamen, ship¬ 
ment, wages and effects, discharge, protection and relief of 
men, fees of commissioners, offences and punishments, blank 
forms, notice to owners and masters of vessels as to scurvy, and 
the blank forms to be filled relating to official log. Index to 
entries on the log, list of crew and report on their characters, 
and finally the blank log itself containing the following heads 
of columns:—Date and hour of occurrences, latitude and 
longitude of same, entry required by the Act, amount of fines or 
forfeitures inflicted. As the Act cited consists of some fourteen 
or fifteen long closely printed pages it can readily be imagined 
that one of the reasons alleged for the falling off in the quality 
of masters, may be because only u Philadelphia lawyers ” 
or “sea lawyers” can be found able and willing to undertake 
the charge of a ship ! In sober earnestness let me make a plea 


47 


for the poor captains who have no time to spare from the care 
of their ships and crews, and to ask that the assistance of 
some humane limb of the law be invoked to make up an 
abridgement of this volume , so that the captain may be able to 
attend to his real business ; which, to be well done, must absorb 
nearly all his time ; or let there be established a law school 
free to all mariners where board and lodging may be found, 
and where they can prepare themselves, (at the expense of our 
dear uncle at Washington), for their legal education! This 
establishment to be located near every principal seaport, should 
have a branch or wing for the care of insane mariners, who by 
reason of stress of mind or weather may become “ non compos 
mentis The only difficulties I apprehend in getting Congress 
to vote several millions of silver dollars for these establish¬ 
ments will be found in limiting the number of patients, and in 
framing the law so that the large body of unemployed captains 
shall not plead insanity and go to the school! One of the sub¬ 
stantial results of such a*n establishment would be that many 
of the needy tramps now infesting the country, would at once 
begin the study of seamanship, law and navigation, in the hope 
of finding a permanent home short of the grave or Deer Island. 

Just think of a day’s work under the heads named in the 
official log ! first the latitude and longitude must be found, and 
the state of the weather be noted, the occurrences of the day 
must also be noted in the other official log book which is open 
to underwriters and owners. 

The exact locality having been established, the day, hour 
and minute of the occurrence having been noted, then comes 
the entry required by the Act of 1874, section “4597” which, 
much curtailed, is substantially as follows, for any Act named 
in section 4596, covering: 1st, desertion; 2d, neglecting to 
join his vessel; 3d, quitting after the French manner; 4th, 
disobedience; 5th, continued disobedience; 6tli, assaulting 
master or mate; 7th, combining with others to disobey com¬ 
mands ; 8th, damaging the vessels or stores, stealing ; 9th, smug¬ 
gling ; for any of these offences the entry must be made and 
signed by the master, and by the mate or one of the crew , and a 
copy be given to the offender and distinctly and audibly read to 
him, to which he may reply; a statement must be made in the 


48 


entry covering these main facts, and it must state that a copy 
has been given to the culprit and must contain a copy of his 
reply: all of which must be entered and signed as before stated. 
In any legal proceedings the entry must be produced, or proved, 
and if not so proven a court may refuse to receive evidence as 
to the offence. But in the meantime the final column “ amount 
of fine or forfeiture inflicted ” is to be filled by the sea law¬ 
yer,—I beg pardon ;—the captain. 

Let me suppose a case. In latitude 00, longitude 00, a very 
ordinary seaman, in very hot weather ; the thermometer being 
at 110°, the sun exactly overhead ; drops a slush-bucket from 
aloft upon the captain’s head while he is taking the sun at noon, 
and breaks his sextant all to smithereens ; spoils his clothes, 
his temper, and his observation ; the captain calls him a d—d 
son of a female dog and orders him to clean the deck and pick 
up the remnants of the sextant, and he then runs below to 
ascertain in what clause of section 4596 the offence comes. He 
finds that it comes either under No. 6,*“ assaulting the master,” 
or No. 8, “ damaging the vessel.” The fine under the former 
is imprisonment for not over two years ; and under the latter 
paying for the damage, and at the discretion of the court , 
imprisonment for not over twelve months. It is not quite clear 
to my mind whether the imprisonment is to begin at once, or 
whether the culprit is to wait the concurrence in the captain’s 
verdict; nor is it clear whether he is to deduct damage to the 
ship at once or not. We will suppose, however, that the cap¬ 
tain concludes to charge the damage done under rule No. 8, 
and to hold over the head of the unfortunate lad the threat of 
imprisonment to be enforced sooner or later. One thing 
appears clear ; the entry must be made and the young delin¬ 
quent must be heard in self-defence. The captain, although a 
smart sailor and a fair navigator, is a very indifferent writer 
and a worse lawyer ; but he considers it a duty to hold a. sort 
of court of inquiry: he calls his mate to act as clerk and he 
calls on several of the crew as witnesses. The court bein<r 
convened without much form the young man is accused of 
wilfully assaulting the captain and of damaging the ship, spoil¬ 
ing the sextant to the extent of 150, and the culprit is asked if 
he has anything to say in self defence ; we will call him A ; 


49 


and lie is told that what he says must be entered in the official 
log. He answers that “ having been ordered to slush down the 
main-top-gallant-mast, I performed the duty to the best of my 
ability, but that the lanyard of my bucket gave way by accident 
and it fall upon the captain. I am not conscious of an assault 
with intent to injure any one,” this is taken down by the mate 
in a very bad hand, with considerable bad spelling and punctua¬ 
tion. B, another young man who saw A preparing his slush 
bucket, deposed as follows: “ heard A say he would be even 
with the 4 old man,’ suppose he meant the captain, think from 
his manner that he meant mischief.” On being asked as to the 
cause of A’s being sent aloft, he answered, “ I don’t know for 
sartin, but I think it was as a punishment not laid down in the 
law for spitting tobaker over the weather rail.” Witness C 
who was at the wheel at time and was looking aloft, deposed as 
follows: “ I seen A lay aloft and begin to slush, the ‘old man’ 
was spining round triing to shoot the son who was right over- 
hed; I see the bucket coming and A and I sang out stand 
rite under ; at the same moment it hit the old man, when he 
sung out ‘come down you d—d sun of a bicli,’ that’s all I 
know.” 

All this testimony having been taken it was duly entered in 
the column of the log entitled: “Entries required by Act of 
Congress.” Nobody deposed under oath. The captain makes 
the following note therein, and he and the mate sign the same. 
“A on the 20th March, 1875, latitude 2" N., longitude 1" E., 
at ten o’clock, spit over the weather rail and it flue in my face, 
he was running forard at the time to bord mane tak. I blowed 
him up and wen he had dun his job, I ordered him to slush 
down the mane-top-galt-mast as a punishment, when I hurd the 
cry to ‘stand right under,’ I jumpt aside, but it was too late, 
my sextant was ruined as was my close, my lied was hurt. I 
ordered A down, and went below to study the law. So ends 
the sea day; wind calm; thermometer 110° on the line.” 
This being duly signed by the captain and mate, nothing more 
was done beyond informing A that he might be shut up at any 
moment under the law. 

I had intended briefly to review all the laws cited in the official 
log, and illustrate the working thereof by simple examples like 


50 


the preceding, in order to furnish a compact synopsis in aid of 
the poor skippers ; but I find that this cannot be done short of 
writing a book large enough to please my worst enemy. 

I shall, therefore, say no more about the official log, further 
than to suggest to all good mates, who are getting a comfort¬ 
able living, not to look for promotion until the shipping law is 
amended. 

I learn from the bureau of docks and yards, that the Naval 
Asylum at Philadelphia is supported out of the income of the 
Naval Pension Fund, and that the expense averages about 
$50,000 per annum; the average number of beneficiaries is 
180, who must furnish evidence of having served twenty years 
in the navy, and they must produce the certificate of a naval 
surgeon, showing that they are unable to obtain a living by 
manual labor. These regulations may be waived under certain 
circumstances, as the loss of a limb or being otherwise perma¬ 
nently disabled while on duty in the service, and provided their 
record is good. On entering the asylum men holding pensions 
must surrender them ; but in the event of discharge they may 
again enjoy them. 

The poor fellow who has become disabled and worn out in 
the service of his country, or by the serious accidents of a life 
in which he finds friends just so long as his money holds out, 
has rather a poor chance of finding a permanent home in the 
Philadelphia Asylum if the chief of the bureau of yards and 
docks holds him to a strict accountability under the blank form 
which I have before me. The headings of the columns are,— 
names of vessels; names of commanding officers under which 
he has served for twenty years; the dates of enlistments and 
of discharges ; and lastly, the period of each service ; he must 
also be an American citizen, and prove it; and the records of 
the navy must be searched in verification of all the statements. 
Now, for a poor old tar, who has become unfit to work, and 
whose memory cannot be trusted to keep in mind the transac¬ 
tions of the day, these regulations would seem to offer an insu¬ 
perable bar to finding a lodgment in the asylum.* 


*Since the above was put into type, I learn that the form was so made for 
the convenience of the fourth auditor rather than a rule for seamen. 




51 


When the beneficiary gets in he has an allowance for clothes, 
aggregating about $70 per annum, and gate-keepers receive 
from $7 to $10 per month in addition to $1 for pocket money. 

No officers of the navy have taken advantage of the asylum 
for a permanent home. 

A number of the men perform duty as quarter-masters, door¬ 
keepers, &c., and for these services they are paid from $3 to 
$10 per month. 

All out of door work and in-door work, except the care of 
their rooms, is done by paid servants. 

In the event of a beneficiary disposing of his clothes, the 
value thereof must come out of his allowances. Considering 
the improvidence of seamen, and the temptations to which he 
must be exposed when living in the suburbs of a large city, 
this does not seem to be a very hard rule, nor is it probable 
that he would be held to a strict accountability for his wrong 
doings. The amount appropriated for the current year is 
$51,873, which includes something for repairs. The consider¬ 
able sum usually expended would seem to show that the men 
are well fed and cared for. 

Since the establishment of the asylum there have been 
received only 787 men. Any who die in it may have a final 
resting place in a cemetery belonging to it. 

I am uninformed as to the popularity of the asylum as a per¬ 
manent home for worn out seamen. Perhaps when the present 
governor retires we shall know his views upon this point. 
Judging from my own experience of Snug Harbors and Homes 
for Seamen, I have come to the conclusion that it would gener¬ 
ally be best to board out all old and disabled men, somewhere 
where they could snuff the sea air and be free from restraint. 

It would seem to be proper to give such persons as will feel 
an interest in this paper, some details as to the United States’ 
training ships. I have before me the Regulations of 1875, 
relating to them, also a Report of 1877, from the Chief of the 
Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, from which I shall 
quote sufficient for my purpose. 

Under Sections 14, 18, 19 and 20, of the Revised Statutes, 
a limited number of boys between 16 and 17, were to be en¬ 
listed until the age of 21. Minors not to be enlisted without 


52 


the permission of parents or guardians. No deserter from the 
naval or military service to be enlisted. Every one must pass 
an examination and prove that he is sound in limb, not subject 
to fits, that he can read ami write,—in some cases, other things 
being good, this maybe omitted. If 16, he must be 5 feet 1 inch 
in his bare feet, and must measure 80 inches round his chest. This 
may be modified under certain conditions. The signature of the 
parent or guardian must be appended to complete the enlistment. 
The examining officers are the captain, a line officer, and a 
senior medical officer. The education of the boys extends only 
to the elements of an English education, and practical seaman¬ 
ship, designed to prepare them for the navy. They are enlisted 
as second-class boys at $10.50 per month, and one ration. If 
deserving on board the training ship, they can be promoted. 
Sons of sailors and soldiers to be preferred. Clothing fur¬ 
nished upon enlistment, and charged ; or they may be furnished 
from the ship’s stores and paid for by the parents. No allot¬ 
ment to be made out of their wages to parent or guardian. 
They may draw $1 per month for pocket money, if out of debt 
to the ship. On reaching the age of 18, they shall be trans¬ 
ferred to ships in commission, accompanied by the captain’s 
certificate of conduct and competency. Boys honorably dis¬ 
charged receive continuous-service certificates, entitling them 
to three months’ extra pay and $1 per month, provided they re¬ 
enlist for three years within three months. Boys cannot be 
discharged before they are of age, unless upon a medical sur¬ 
vey or for misconduct'. Boys injured, or disabled by disease, 
to have a pension. Applications for admission to ships to be 
made to the Bureau of Recruiting, or to the captains of the 
training ships. 

The rules for the government of the training ships are very 
voluminous,^ under the following heads: organization : gen¬ 
eral instructions ; boarding; school fund ; pocket money ; leave 
of absence ; punishments; clothing ; distinctive marks; daily 
routine ; sanitary; school organization ; seamanship; gun¬ 
nery studies ; examinations ; tenders to training ships ; trans¬ 
fers to cruising ships ; cruising ships ; discharges. 

There are 156 sections, all very good and proper enough, 
but it seems to me that while it is all very well for the captain 


53 


to have instructions to fall back upon in the event of any seri¬ 
ous difficulty, it would be well to give him a .very wide discre¬ 
tion ; the training ship is as yet an experiment, and the com¬ 
mander should not be tied down hand and foot by red tape 
rules. One ship, say at San Francisco, may require dilferent 
regulations from one at New York ; the rules should be so 
drawn as to meet dilferent circumstances as to the general 
character of the boys as well as of the people among whom 
they are to be brought up. 

The tender to the training ship is a very important adjunct to 
the efficiency of the school, especially where the latter is a 
heavy ship, with large spars, sails and ropes. The rule is that 
a small sailing ship shall be prepared as a tender, in which, 
while cruising at sea, the drill will be devoted mostly to sea¬ 
manship. Up to this time ships like the Supply and the Ju¬ 
niata propeller have been used. Of the ships belonging to the 
navy engaged in training, I find by the Navy Register of 1877 
that they are, — 

Minnesota, screw, at New York, training ship,Capt. S. B.Luce. 

Monongahela, screw, at Baltimore, training ship, Capt. S. D. 
Green. 

Sailing ship Constitution, at Philadelphia, Capt. H. A. Adams.* 

Sailing ship Santee, at Naval Academy, is a gunnery training 
ship. Sailing ship Dale, also at the Naval Academy, as an 
instruction ship. 

The sailing ship Jamestown, Capt. Henry Glass, and the 
St. Marys, Captain Robert L. Pythian, the former at San Fran¬ 
cisco, and the latter at New York, are loaned to the cities 
named. Something more will be said perhaps in regard to 
them further on; also as to the Mercury, an enterprise be¬ 
longing solely to the city of New York. Capt. S. B. Luce 
has always been a strong advocate for naval schools, he has 
recently taken charge of the Minnesota, and has at this time 
(January 23, 1878) about 380 boys under his care. 

I have before me a report of Commodore Shufeldt, Chief of 
the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, for 1877, which 
contains some facts that may be of interest to my readers. It is 

#Now loading for the Exhibition at Paris. 




54 


expected that after certain experiments now going on have been 
completed, that the rope works at Charlestown will be able to 
turn out steel wire hawsers equal to any manufactured abroad ; 
they will be a great desideratum, and will ultimately lead to 
the adoption of wire instead of chain for cables. The subject of 
anchors is also alluded to; it is patent to the most casual observer 
that we are far behind England in adopting patent non-fouling 
anchors, as Martin’s, Captain Swinburn’s and Tyzack’s. 

The Commodore alludes to the beneficent results of having 
receiving ships kept in sea trim instead of mere sheer hulks ; by 
this comparatively new rule the recruits are kept in better dis¬ 
cipline, and they should be regularly drilled, both to promote 
their health and efficiency. As to conduct reports, it is said 
that there is a marked improvement in the navy; desertions 
fell off from 1203 in 1876, to 818 in 1877. Allusion is made 
to a board of officers, now in session, revising the laws of the 
navy, which it is to be hoped will do away with this great 
evil. It is said that in vessels of war, as in the merchant 
service, two or three bad men in a crew spoil the whole. 
During 1877, 1121 men received what are called u honorable 
discharges,” and 7 received “ medals of honor ” for saving 
lives ; 2666 continuous-service certificates have been issued, out 
of which number 700 are now in the navy. These certificates 
are only now issued upon the recommendation of commanding 
officers. 

Commodore Shufeldt makes a strong plea for enlarged 
quarters for the men as indispensable to the efficiency of a 
vessel of war; he calls attention to the sick-bay placed in the 
eyes of the ship, and says that the want of light .and air renders 
it a good place to keep a sick man ill, and he adds that this 
place has been abandoned in every navy but ours. 

In regard to the training ships this report extending only 
to the end of the fiscal year, (June 30), says: 569 boys have 
been enlisted, and there remained in training 458, and that the 
reports of their officers are favorable. 324 are serving in 
cruising ships; scarcely a ship in commission which has not 
applied for its quota to replace the late ‘‘landsmen” of the 
navy. A small experimental class has been enlisted for the 
engineer force, and is cruising in the Talapoosa. It is recom- 


55 


mended that boys who have creditably served until of age 
have a “good conduct badge,” and may have additional train¬ 
ing, in order to be eligible for warrant officers to replace a 
class of men who have become professionally or physically 
incompetent. This would doubtless afford a great inducement 
for respectable youth to enter the navy. A strong plea is also 
made for a more liberal outfit without charge on entering, so 
that the clothes they buy and begin with shall not be worn out 
before being paid for. Tt would seem to be but fair to give the 
sailor an outfit like that of the soldier or the marine. This 
would require an appropriation of about $125,000 per annum. 
Commodore Shufeldt also urges the passage of an Act to 
“ establish a system of deposits to prevent desertion, and to 
elevate the condition of navy men” as in the army. It is very 
gratifying to an outside observer to find so much doing in the 
navy to give a better tone to its seamen. This is an excellent 
time to begin, as there are a great many young men seeking 
employment on account of the depression in almost all trades. 
So much for Commodore Shufeldt’s reports. 

I would now revert to several matters relating to the seamen 
of the merchant service. It is for the interest of the ship¬ 
owners to do something more for the comfort of their men. In 
the English Nautical Magazine for February, 1877, 1 find an 
interesting paper on this subject, and regret that I cannot quote 
more largely from it. It relates to the ship Inchgreen of 
Greenock, the owners state that in the matter of accommoda¬ 
tions she is the first to do away with the custom of crowding 
men together in wet, uncomfortable quarters. She has a house 
on deck, 40x20x6 T V high, partitioned off into rooms 6x5, 
containing an iron bed, a chest of drawers, a folding seat, a 
wash basin and conveniences for hanging clothes ; each room 
has a window, the house is built of iron, coated with cork 
cement to prevent condensation. Every man is supplied with 
a plate, knife, fork, spoon and key. The first crew shipped at 
5s. less per month than the going rate from the Clyde. The 
ship is of iron, 1090 tons, 219x34x20 deep ; the masts, spars, 
rigging are of steel, and among the improvements are light- 
rooms forming part of the top-gallant-forecastle ; in these the 
lights can be burned and kept properly trimmed in all weathers 


56 


without removal, or exposure to the men. Between the state¬ 
rooms is a table and conveniences for sitting, reading and 
writing. I cannot say too much in commendation of this plan. 
As things are now, in the best deck houses I have seen, there 
is no privacy, no opportunity for washing, and no means of 
securing property from plunder by the black sheep, of which 
there are generally some among the crew. 

In the same magazine an anonymous writer gives some 
pungent reasons for the inefficiency of crews, and he classes 
them under the heads—advance wages, examination of masters 
and mates, and the official log. 

The advance wages system the writer considers to have been 
fully discussed and universally condemned. In regard to the 
examination of masters and mates or of men as candidates for 
these grades, he says that many ignorant men prepare them¬ 
selves by a system of cramming, and although these are seldom 
employed in first-class ships, the system tends to reduce the pay 
of competent men, and arrests the flow of respectable youth 
who otherwise would adopt a sea-life ; he says, that while sea¬ 
men get more pay, officers and masters get less ; that officers 
are being “dragged down to one dead level of minimum 
capacity.” 

To my mind it would seem that the fault lies in the examining 
officers. If the right men are appointed for this purpose false 
cramming can easily be detected. If, in the United States, we 
ever come to an examination of candidates for certificates of 
competency, whether these are sought for voluntarily or made 
obligatory by law, much will depend upon the examiners ; 
they should not be fettered by having to follow printed forms. 
Men of good judgment as to seamanship, navigation and 
character, should be selected and left unhampered by stringent 
rules. 

As to the official log of England, which the writer in the 
Nautical criticises, I have only to say that he is much more 
severe upon it than I have been. He characterises the obliga¬ 
tion to read over the entries to the seaman as “a most ingenious 
invention to promote insubordination.” 

The writer discusses the question of the deterioration of 
seamen, and comes to the same conclusion as Mr. Brassey, that 


57 


they have not deteriorated. He says that in England (as with 
us) the crews of steamers and coasters compare favorably with 
the crew of ships going on long voyages, principally because 
the black sheep are easily got rid of. 

In 1870 a committee composed of many prominent gentlemen 
of Liverpool was organized to consider the condition of British 
seamen. I have the report of this committee before me signed by 
John Williamson as Secretary, a sub-committee was appointed 
to make inquiry of captains and owners of sailing and steam 
ships as to the seamanship, physical condition, subordination, 
and into the causes of deterioration, and also as to the causes 
of the improvement of a fractional part of the men examined 
into. 

The general deductions arising from the evidence of the 
parties alluded to, consisting of 62 captains and 39 shipowners, 
is then stated ; 89 per cent, stated that seamen had deterio¬ 
rated, as seamen ; 65 per cent, that they bad physically dete¬ 
riorated ; 71 per cent, that they had deteriorated in subordi¬ 
nation. The principal causes of this deterioration as seamen 
are stated to be 47 per cent, to the abolition of compulsory 
apprenticeship and want of training; 32 per cent, to men 
obtaining a rating of able seamen too easily ; and as to phys¬ 
ical condition, 47 per cent, to crimping and boarding houses ; 
6 per cent, to the advance note system; and 36 per cent, to 
intemperance and disease. As .to insubordination, 50 per cent, 
is attributed to the introduction of foreign seamen ; and 34 
per cent, to the Merchant Shipping Act not giving to the master 
sufficient power to punish the refractory ; and for the improve¬ 
ment of seamen, 17 per cent, for better fare and more com¬ 
fortable quarters ; and 9 per cent, for abolishing advance notes. 
As to the sources of supply of seamen, 43 per cent, were for 
training ships, and 56 per cent, suggest a return to the appren¬ 
tice system. 

In the evidence adduced one captain said that he had several 
crews of 36, of which 24 shipped as able seamen, of whom not 
more than 9 were fit for that duty, and that he found great 
difficulty in getting two men in each watch fit to steer an 
easy steering ship. Another said that out of 15, 4 only could 
steer ; some did not know starboard from port, and the most 
8 


58 


ignorant were the most insubordinate. Another deposed that 
sailors are recruited from the most dissolute, who cannot get a 
living on shore. 

In 1874, a supplementary report of the Liverpool Committee 
was made. While the Committee state that within the last 
five years, since the former report, there have been reasons for 
some changes in details, the main points of the former report 
are confirmed, and they .come to the conclusion that there is a 
deficiency of able seamen ; they urge the return to the appren¬ 
tice system; and they suggest that the seamen must be seawor¬ 
thy as well as the ship, and they recommend for the merchant 
service a similar system of training to that in the navy. 

In this report, Mr. Thomas Gray, of the Board of Trade, is 
quoted as saying, that unseaworthy sailors would lose the best 
ships, and that it was time to look into the question of unsea¬ 
worthy sailors; to prevent losses we must begin with the 
sailors; that there was an unusual waste (of life and prop¬ 
erty) from the unseaworthy condition of seamen. The Duke 
of Edinburgh, one of the members of the Royal Commission, 
made a speech, quoted in this report, strongly advocating training 
ships. The Committee sum up their report on the 20th Oct., 
1874, by eight resolutions, which in brief recommend the fol¬ 
lowing: 1. That the training schools remain undisturbed. 
2. To encourage apprenticeship. 3. That nautical schools are 
indispensable for the Mercantile Marine as a nucleus to the 
Naval Reserve. 4. That the expense of maintaining them 
should be borne by the Government and the Mercantile Mar¬ 
ine ; that the portion to be borne by the latter should come 
from a duty of 6(7. per ton, to be remitted to such as 
carry apprentices up to a certain standard, to be fixed upon. 
5. All vessels under 100 tons to be exempted. 6. All 
boys to undergo a physical examination, and to be not less 
than 14 or over 16 years of age. 7. Such to be bound to serve 
in the Naval Reserve ; to remain in training from 12 to 18 
months, and to serve in merchant ships not less than 3 years. 

8. That the management of the ships be vested in persons 
appointed by the Government and the Mercantile Marine. 

9. That no seaman shall be rated AB unless he can show 
proof of four years’ sea service. 10. That besides a com pul- 


59 


sory benefit fund, unclaimed wages and effects of deceased 
seamen should go to the fund. 11. That the consular system 
be revised, and that a convention be asked for, especially 
with the United States, for the prevention of desertions in 
foreign ports. 

The Committee concluded by saying that it is inexpedient to 
recommend the return to compulso^ apprenticeship, inexpe¬ 
dient for the government to train boys only for the Mercantile 
Marine, but that it is important to have training ships for the 
naval service, and as shipowners would be benefited by such a 
system, a portion of the cost should be borne by the Mercantile 
Marine. 

The report closes by discussing under-manning of ships, 
compulsory apprenticeship, and desertion in foreign ports. It 
is said that while wages of seamen have increased, shipowners 
find difficulty in procuring able seamen, and that this adds 
much to the risk of navigation. 

Legislation has endeavored to ameliorate the condition of 
seamen by examination of masters and mates; by regulating 
the space allowed them ; by establishing a scale of diet; by 
the allotment note; by the establishment of savings banks, 
Ac. The system of compulsory apprenticeship, established in 
1844, was abolished in 1849, on the repeal of the Navigation 
Laws. It is now suggested (1874) to compel all vessels over 
100 tons to carry apprentices, or to contribute, say 6c?. per ton, 
for the support of training ships in all the principal ports. 
Some shipowners now take apprentices, and from them officers 
are frequently chosen. It is argued that a pension fund, as 
suggested by the Manning Commission of 1859, might prove of 
great value to bind the seaman to his native country. 

I have before me a paper by Mr. John Williamson, read 
before the Social Science Congress at Liverpool on the 16th 
October, 1876, being an inquiry as to the best means for im¬ 
proving the professional and social condition of seamen, and 
enforcing discipline at sea. Almost every page of this little 
pamphlet speaks as well for the seamen and shipowners of 
this country as for those of Great Britain. Almost the same 
difficulties are encountered here as in England, and it is for 
this reason that I have written so much in regard to her laws. 


60 


If I were called on to choose a title for the little work before 
me, I should designate it as an inquh'y as to the best means for 
improving the condition of our merchants and captains and 
indeed our navy. Mr. Williamson bases his arguments upon— 

1st. The present condition of our seamen. 

2nd. The causes operating to bring about this condition. 

3rd. Suggestions for improving their condition. 

He says that so late as last August Mr. Brassey questioned 
the fact as to the deterioration of seamen; in the following 
October Mr. Williamson undertook to show that Mr. Brassey 
was in error; and he goes on to repeat the views then 
expressed:— 

“The conclusions of the Committee of Enquiry are supported by 
continued evidence, and the records of the daily press often bear 
painful evidence of the truth of these statements, that not more than 
one-fourth of our forecastle hands are genuine seamen, and that the 
remainder are ignorant of the most ordinary duties of a sailor ;— 
and when we consider the class from which these latter hands are 
taken—pierhead jumpers, tramps, and all sorts—it is not surprising 
to learn that they are inefficient and insubordinate, that they ‘ hang 
back,’ and have to be ‘ hounded out ’ of their bunks when any 
emergency arises, that they refuse or neglect to join ship after sign¬ 
ing articles, and that they desert on every opportunity. But I must 
here do the justice of pointing out that this severe indictment does 
not apply to the better class of seamen, for we have some good 
trained men in sailing ships, and a huger proportion in steam—men 
who are as good seamen as any country can boast of, and help to re¬ 
deem, to a certain extent, the blacker side of the picture. Such men 
go to show what an excellent body of seamen we might possess if 
the bulk of them were trained and brought up to the profession. 

“ This deteriorated condition is borne out in the Report of the 
Royal Commission on Unseaworthy Ships. 

“The Mercantile Marine Service Association, a large and influen¬ 
tial body representing the Shipmasters of this port, supports this 
opinion. 

“The respectable seamen themselves, as represented by the Sea¬ 
man’s Protective Society of Liverpool, numbering 3,000 practical 
sailors, a large number of married men and members of the Royal 
Naval Reserve, in their Petition to the House of Commons, in Feb¬ 
ruary last, .state that ‘ a large proportion of the loss of life and prop- 


61 


erty at sea is the result of ships being partially manned by men who 
are not sailors, and the large number of foreigners.’ The Petition 
also refers to the supply, by crimps, ‘ of vagrants, tramps, and other 
incompetent men, which accounts for the inefficiency and insubordi¬ 
nation so much complained of,’ and further proceeds to point out 
remedies ‘ that will secure a more efficient and competent class of 
seamen ’ than now exist. 

The Shipowners of the United Kingdom, at their Meeting in the 
London Tavern, in February last—the largest representative meeting 
of Shipowners (sail and steam) ever held in this country—stated in 
one of their Resolutions respecting seamen, that ‘a large proportion 
of the annual casualties at sea is caused by their inefficiency, intem¬ 
perance, and negligence, and that great risks and losses arise from 
the desertion of seamen in foreign and colonial ports.’ 

“It is well known the Peninsular and Oriental Company had to 
substitute Lascars for some 5,000 of their English Seamen, because 
the latter were so insubordinate and difficult to deal with.” 

“ So intelligent an observer as Mr. W. S. Lindsay, in the Nautical 
Magazine for this month, states that British Seamen have deterio¬ 
rated in seamanship, and adds they have not improved either morally 
or socially to the same extent as other classes of the community. 

He says, “ I think I have submitted an amount of general concur¬ 
rence, in support of the fact of deterioration, that is conclusive. 

“I will now proceed to point out ‘ the causes that have operated to 
bring about that condition: It is of importance that a correct diagnosis 
of a disease be arrived at, so that the proper remedies may be ap¬ 
plied—in the subject before us people are too ready to be carried 
away by plausible theories—one of these very generally accepted is, 
that because of the immense increase of late years in our tonnage, 
the demand for seamen has exceeded the supply, and hence the dete¬ 
rioration ; now this has not the bearing on the subject so generally 
assumed, as the following figures will show. In 1860 (I take this 
year as being sufficiently remote for my purpose, and prior to 
that immense impetus given to our shipping in consequence of 
the American war), in that year we possessed 4,251,739 tons of 
shipping, while in 1875 we had 5,891,692 tons, or an increase 
of about 37^ per cent.; in 1860 we had of seamen, including ap¬ 
prentices, 143,992, or of British hands 129,713, against the respec¬ 
tive figures in 1875, of 150,330 and 129,657, or an increase of 
seamen of about 4 per cent., though the number of British seamen 
remains almost stationary, so that, though our tonnage has increased 


62 


37Jr per cent, since I860, we hardly require more sailors to work 
that tonnage. The reasons are obvious to any practical man, when 
taking into account the better appliances and arrangements for hand¬ 
ling ships, their greater size (for though the total tonnage is so much 
greater, we have far fewer sailing ships in 1875 than in 18G0.”) 

“ The causes of deterioration or falling off in the supply of men, 
as some allege, is not owing to insufficient pay and bad food. The 
improvement during the past twenty years in the more comfortable 
quarters, better diet, and in the wages of seamen, is most marked; 
and the position of the seaman is not in such marked contrast to that 
of the workman on shore ; his food and wages average about 3s. 9 d. 
per day, with no house rent to pay—the position in steam is even better 
—and in vessels from the Colony or San Francisco the wages range 
from £5 to £7 and £8 per month ; only last month my firm paid off 
a crew shipped in the Colony, some of whom had £11 a month! ! 
Many an educated clerk in a Government office would be delighted 
to have such remuneration, besides his food, and no lodgings to 
pay for !!! 

“ Others, again, assert that the increase of Foreigners is one of the 
causes of deterioration, and that Shipowners take these because they 
are so much cheaper than English sailors. The Times, even, in a 
leader on the 18th September last, repeats the fallacy and cautions 
Shipowners by saying— 4 It is difficult to imagine a worse or more 
perilous method of saving money than that which seems to have 
been resorted to in some quarters of engaging crews of a low and 
unseaworthy type. Foreign sailors, with no characters, cost less, no 
doubt, than picked and trustworthy Englishmen ; but if we add the 
mere expense of mutinies and murders, and needless losses at sea, 
the saving on the whole account, will, perhaps, appear somewhat 
doubtful.’ It does not need a word to practical men to show that this 
statement is entirely without foundation. Mr. Brassev, too, in the 
paper already referred to, says (p. 402)—‘ There is no reason to 
suppose that seamen, if they were constantly employed in sailing- 
ships, and were selected with the same care as the men employed in 
steamers, would be inferior to the mariners of former times.’ I 
would ask, after steamers are supplied with the best of our men, 
where are the sailing Shipowners to select from ? ” 

“The evil is doubtless increased by the abolition of the Compul¬ 
sory Apprenticeship System, as fewer boys are now being trained 
for sailors ; and this again is further aggravated by the fact that, 


63 


while it is only in sailing ships boys caji be trained, sailing ships are 
continuing to decrease, while steamers are increasing in number.” 

“ For improving the professional condition of our Seamen , I would 
suggest the following :— 

“ Allow no man to rate as A. B. till he can show satisfactory proof 
of at least , four years' sea service. I do not say that four years’ 
sea service will make anyone a good A. B.—a Captain can take 
him or not in that capacity, as he chooses; but if a man is of fair 
physique, of good character, and after four years at sea, he ought to 
be a fairly good A. B. At present anyone, after a year or so at sea, 
can obtain this rating, and a great many men ship as A. B. with 
false discharges, who had never before been at sea.” 

“I, also, am strongly persuaded that the abolition of the Advance 
Note would tend to improve the character of our men, as it will keep 
out of our ships a class that degrade the profession. Shipowners, as 
a body, I feel assured, desire this; and the respectable seamen, them¬ 
selves, urge it. It would inflict no injury upon the good seaman or 
his family ; it would make the thoughtless sailor more careful, and 
would inflict little injury to even the reckless one, as it is well known 
that, as a rule, out of the advance there is rarely 10s. of it spent in 
outfit; and an immense good will result, the crimp will die out, as 
his profession will be gone. It is from this quarter the greatest op¬ 
position will be offered to the abolition of the Note. Shipowners, 
Merchants, and Underwriters have a right to demand the abolition; 
their property is often lost through the drunken and enfeebled con¬ 
dition of the men who are shipped in such state, mainly through the 
operation of the Advance Note, besides the incompetent class of men 
that are shipped in consequence of the facilities afforded by this per¬ 
nicious system. In April, of this year, no fewer than seven fine ships 
put back by refusal of the men to do duty ; in every case they were 
sent to prison, as there were no grounds for their refusal; but it is a 
remarkable fact, bearing on the subject, that all these men had re¬ 
ceived Advance Notes—the inference is clear, that if they had not 
got Advance Notes, they would not have caused these ships to 
put back.” 

“ The great remedy lies in the supply of a better class of 
trained men." 

“The present training ships are all doing a certain amount of good. 
Most of them turn out lads that will make good sailors, and, there- 



64 


fore, these institutions should .be encouraged as much as possible, but 
they can never be regarded as the best nursery for supplying the 
Mercantile Marine with seamen.” 


I think I have said enough as to the condition of seamen in 
England, and in taking leave of that part of my subject, I 
would offer an apology to Mr. Williamson for quoting him in 
such a rambling desultory manner. 

I am informed that the “Naval Hospital Fund” and the “Naval 
Pension Fund” have no immediate connection with each other. 
The latter accrues from prize money; and as a matter of course 
in peaceable times the source becomes exhausted, and the 
income of the fund not being sufficient to pay pensions, con¬ 
gressional aid must be sought. The “Naval Hospital Fund” 
comes from the tax of twenty cents per month upon officers 
and men of the navy, including marines, and from the value 
of rations stopped from those who are in hospitals. The annual 
receipts from this tax, now that the navy is limited to 7,500 
men, is about $37,000, about enough to support one hospital. 
The deficiency must be met by annual appropriations. 

In the Nautical Magazine for November, 1876, Mr. W. S. 
Lindsay, who has since died, writes an elaborate paper on the 
subject of manning merchant ships. It is a strong plea for a 
renewal of the apprentice system based on the voluntary act of 
shipowners. Mr. Lindsay tells us that notwithstanding that 
the law does not require ship-owners to take apprentices, the 
returns of the Board of Trade show the following:— 

Dec. 31, 1870, there were 18,303 indentures in existence. 

“ 1871, “ 17,092 “ 

“ 1872, “ 16,539 “ 

“ 1873, « 15,815 

“ 1874, « 15,812 


Among these there were more or less boys who were not 
apprentices. Shipowners sometimes prefer to take boys whom 
they can discharge on the return of the ship, and principally 
for the reason that apprentices after having kept a good deal 
ol bread from moulding, and got to be good ordinary seamen 
at the expense of the ship, take French leave. 


65 


Mr. Lindsay, who was himself a sailor, and a merchant and 
M. P. of note, says: “I conscientiously believe that more 
vessels and lives are lost from incompetent seamen than through 
unseaworthy ships, and while shipowners are to blame for this 
state of things, the Government is equally so for permitting 
incompetent men to go to sea any more than unseaworthy 
ships.” 

Mr. Lindsay shows, that notwithstanding the fact, that in the 
Cumberland, having on board, 31st December, 1875, 371 boys; 
there were 199 who had lost one or both parents; 81 without 
known parents or whose parents had absconded, and only 91 
having parents living. The reports of the conduct of the 
majority of these who went to sea was very favorable. If then 
a ship manned from the lowest classes of society can save so 
many from crime, and make good sailors of them, how much 
more ought we here in the United States encourage the training 
of seamen from respectable sources. 

Mr. Lindsay says that in the Warspite, burned 1875-6, 
and to be replaced by a larger ship, there have been trained 
30,000 boys who have gone into the navy, 25,000 into the mer¬ 
chant service, and 3,700 into the Indian Navy. He speaks of 
a model vessel called the Endeavour, consisting of the deck 
and masts of a full rigged brig, and connected with the Feltham 
Industrial School, Middlesex, near his residence. The school 
was originally established in 1859, for the vagrant boys of the 
vicinity of London, but that the number of convicted out of 700 
or 800 is now only about one-seventh of the whole, and that 
they are mostly truants who come to grief by reason of poor 
homes and bad associates. 

The institution can accommodate 800, and derives its income 
from the County of Middlesex to the extent of <£9,000 ; con¬ 
tributions from the National Treasury £6,300, and from the 
London School Board £1,600. The boys are instructed in 
various trades. The nautical class consisting of about one- 
fourth of the number in the school. Mr. Lindsay says that 
although the boys taken into this school came from “the very 
dregs of society,” the results have been “satisfactory in the ex¬ 
treme.” During the three years, 1872-4, 821 boys were pro¬ 
vided for, of which 285 went into the navy, 115 enlisted, 121 

9 


66 


emigrated, and most of tlie balance went into trades, and of 
the number 85£ per cent, were doing well; 8 per cent, dead 
or missing; and only 9J per cent, convicted of crime after 
returning to their original homes. Mr. Lindsay says that while 
many of the boys fall short of the physical qualities considered 
necessary in the navy, most of them are perfectly competent to 
make good sailors of. 

In the Nautical Magazine for October, 18T6, Mr. Lindsay 
says, quoting from the Royal Commission on unseaworthy ships. 
“The system of training boys for the navy has been successful, 
and if a similar plan could be adopted for the merchant 
service, sailors and shipowners would be benefited, and many 
sources of danger to the merchant service would be diminished 
or removed.” 

There is an interesting account in the Nautical Magazine of 
February, 1876, of the “Royal Naval School at Greenwich.” 
I understand that it is for the benefit of the sons of men who 
have been in the navy; it dates back 150 years and has gone 
on from a very small beginning until it is estimated that in 
1877 there would be 1,000 boys in it. At the time stated, the 
boys consisted of the sons of petty officers and seamen of the 
navy, and of non-commissioned officers and privates of the 
marines. It is said that at “the present time there are officers 
of all ranks in the navy who have to thank Greenwich for 
their positions.” There is a splendid drill ship on the parade 
ground ; a laundry ; a bakery; workshops for all trades; 
instruction rooms for seamenship; a dining-hall capable of 
seating 1,200 boys; there is also a bathing pond where swim¬ 
ming is taught, and it is proposed to introduce pipes so as to 
make it available for all seasons. What a blessing such an 
institution would be in some of our great cities where the sea¬ 
going ship cannot be utilized. 

In the Nautical Magazine for December, 1876, is a long and 
interesting paper from Mr. Lindsay on “Maritime defences 
considered in connection with manning of merchant ships.” 
Scarcely an argument is brought forth therein which does not 
apply equally well to this country. He says: “Our merchant 
service must always be our most valuable auxiliary in war time.” 
I recommend every one who may be interested in training boys, 


67 


either for the navy or the merchant service, to read* this long 
interesting paper of Mr. Lindsay’s. 

The Nautical Magazine for August, 1877, contains a paper 
on voluntary examinations for seamen in the merchant service. 
As we are not yet in condition for any compulsory examination 
either of seamen, or of masters and officers, or aspirants for the 
grade of officers and masters, it may be well to look at what 
is therein said, and see if we can find any considerable number 
of persons who may think so well of themselves as to seek for 
certificates of competency. In Liverpool, it is stated, there is 
a “Seamen’s Dispensary,” an institution where he may go if 
ill and procure good advice, instead of going to a hospital or 
resorting to the nostrums of the quack, who, like the crimp, 
stands ready to pounce upon the sailor. 

In London measures were being taken, under the auspices 
of the Board of Trade, to organize a voluntary board of 
examination for the mind as well as the body. The applicant 
must pay 2s. 6d.; must present certificate of character from 
his last employer and a medical certificate. The whole scheme 
is represented to be voluntary, self-supporting and local. After 
due examination as to the duties of the applicant, and as to 
his capacity to distinguish different colors at night, the condi¬ 
tions upon which he may receive his certificate are:— 

1st. That he will permit no one else to use it. 

2d. That he write his signature on the face of it. 

3d. That he is at least nineteen years of age. 

4th. That on shipping his captain takes charge of it. 

5th. That it shall be returned to the Marine Board"when¬ 
ever he may be required to do so. 

6th. That it be cancelled if found to have been misused. 

Some modifications of the rules are made in the case of the 
steamboat sailor who shall not be expected to know all about 
rigging. This may and ought to lead to a separate class, who 
would have no right to impose themselves on captains as bona 
fide A B’s. The writer of this paper thinks that this association, 
if duly encourged by the shipowners, would lead to winnowing 
out the bad men from the mass who claim to be able seamen. 

The scheme is said to be one emanating from the seamen 
themselves ; there is no greater hardship for a good able-bodied 


68 


man than .to find himself, as he often does, in a small minority 
among a set of incompetent blackguards. The men of the 
naval marine reserve are generally good men and they deserve 
protection. 

In this free country where every man is expected to do 
pretty much as he pleases ; this system of voluntary examina¬ 
tion seems to be particularly applicable; while there are a 
good many good men who know how to sail, and to take care 
of a ship under all circumstances, and who would not care to 
undergo any examination, voluntary or otherwise ; there are a 
good many who would be only too glad to have an opportunity 
of procuring a certificate of competency for one of the various 
grades, beginning with A B and going up to master. A prac¬ 
tical examiner who knows the ropes, even though he may know 
nothing of lunar observations, occultations and eclipses, will 
soon find out by very simple unprinted rules who is a sailor 
and who is not. As an illustration I may mention a case 
coming under my own observation, happening to be on board 
of a yacht, fitting for an Atlantic voyage, I saw a sailor-looking- 
man come on board and ask for a place as A B, he said he 
knew all about steering and attending sails and rigging, knew 
how to handle the lead and row a boat. The captain told him 
to coil up the main sheet which was lying in the cock pit—he 
did it in a very awkward manner, and when he had finished it 
he did not capsize the coil; he was discarded—this was good 
evidence of his incompetency as a seaman fit for a place in any 
vessel. 

Referring to what has been said as to the effect of the ship¬ 
ping law upon our coastwise trade. 1 refer to a statement 
before me, from H. M. Whitney, Esq., agent of a Boston line. 
In regard to New York, he says, that the condition of the 
sailor in coastwise lines has improved ; the term of service is 
longer than formerly, and the commissioner does not interfere 
with the shipping of men by the owner or master. This applies 
also to the line to Havana. In the steamers of the Pacific 
Company it is the custom to hire and discharge men under 
the auspices of the commissioner. 

Mr. Whitney says that he can conceive of nothing more 
calculated to produce the result which it was tfie design of the 


69 


law to correct. It deprives the men of a home at the moment 
of arrival in port, and substitutes for the salutary influence of 
the ship the demoralizing influences of the boarding house ; it 
prevents the growth of a feeling of mutual respect and confi¬ 
dence between the men and their officers which a longer term of 
service would encourage, and the evil extends to passengers, 
freight, underwriters and to society at large ; any law limiting 
the term of service on regular lines of steamers is especially 
injurious to sailors. 

As a principle Mr. Whitney is opposed to any governmental 
interference in matters of this kind; but it occurs to him 
whether it might not be proper to require all lines receiving 
subsidies to provide more comfortable quarters for the men 
than has been the custom ; if the material condition of the men 
be improved, self-respect follows, and the problem is mainly 
solved. His experience on this point is a fair illustration of 
the subject; his line runs tri-weekly steamers of 1850 tons, 
aggregating three hundred trips annually. Several years ago 
the line provided comfortable mess rooms for the sailors and * 
firemen, and improved their forecastle quarters. The result 
has been to give them a better class of men ; many have been 
in the line for years and have families. In the three vessels 
there are eighteen sailors and twenty-one firemen, of these ten 
sailors and ten firemen are married. As conclusive proof of 
the good characters of the employes of the line on shore and 
afloat, it is said "that a damage account for 1877, covering more 
than three hundred trips, amounted to 1658.40, or a little more 
than $2 for each, and in their steamer running to New Orleans 
the accommodations are fully equal to the others, and the 
number of steady married men is not less, and Mr. Whitney is 
inclined to believe that other lines running South out of Boston 
make good provision for their men, and that their experience 
must be somewhat similar to his own. 

Much having been said as to the deterioration of seamen, let 
us look on the other side of the question. The experiences of 
the war, if they did nothing to improve the moral condition of 
seamen, certainly did give them valuable experience in gun¬ 
nery and naval discipline, and so far have seamen become better 
fitted for fighting purposes ; but before the men who have thus 


70 


become better instructed can be utilized in the profession of 
arms, they will have become too old to be of use. The sailor 
is often spoken of as an ungrateful fellow, ready upon the least 
concession or relaxation of discipline to take advantage of his 
officers. Some say, “ Give Jack roast turkey and he will 
demand plum pudding ”—“ Give him the long-boat and he will 
soon demand the ship.” I do not think this was the rule in 
former times, nor do I believe that this is the rule now. The 
sailor does not differ much from the rest of the human family ; 
he has little enjoyment at sea, and it follows that when he gets 
on shore and finds many allurements from willing hands ready 
to fleece him, he changes his nature for the time and becomes 
generously reckless ; ready to help the first beggar he meets to 
his last penny. It is true that there are Bethels and sailors’ 
homes and reading rooms, and it is no doubt true that some 
sailors take care of their money and their clothes, and that 
some have money in savings banks, but these are the excep¬ 
tions. The great mass of sailors coming and going are men 
“without families, men who are more or less given to dissipation 
of various kinds; men who are kept constantly poor, and very 
often unfit to go to sea from disease; but they are seldom un¬ 
grateful for good treatment. Almost all the troubles arise from 
too much liquor on the part of mates and boatswains as well as 
seamen; in fact, I never knew of a row bordering on mutiny 
that did not originate in bad liquor , or bad temper on the part of 
officers. There is nothing more true than that good officers 
make good men, and that the quarter-deck bully makes bad 
men. I have found seamen as a rule grateful for good treat¬ 
ment, and always most susceptible of kindness,, especially when 
ill. While it is true that one or two bad men in a small crew 
may spoil the whole, it is equally true that one or two good 
men will leaven the whole in the right direction. The great 
object to be sought is to improve the sailor, by beginning at the 
root,—establish educational facilities for encouraging respectable 
young men to go to sea; educate men of the right sort for 
officers ; furnish the men with comfortable quarters and whole¬ 
some food ; keep a supply of clothes always on board the ship, 
and treat the men as if they were human beings. If this course 


71 


be followed we shall hear much less of insubordination, and of 
abandonment of vessels at sea. 

The simple truth is that shipowners in general are too much 
absorbed in endeavoring to make both ends meet, or in specu¬ 
lations outside of their regular business, or in politics, to be 
able to give any time to the sailor. Very few shipowners 
ever put their feet into the forecastle or the deck-house, and 
until they take a more lively interest in the welfare of sea¬ 
men they will continue to hear much as to his inefficiency and 
ingratitude. 

An old friend, who has been retired from the navy, says: 
“ I am not one of those who believe that the world is coming 
to an end because I am no longer actively employed. But it 
is my firm conviction that the able seamen of the present day 
are not equal to the men of that rate forty years ago. For 
years past I have not been able to place confidence in steers¬ 
men or leadsmen. I do not believe that one in twenty of the 
navy sailors of to-day can get a cast of the lead in ten fathoms 
when the ship is going over five knots; and as for reefing, 
who ever sees a weather earing well hauled out ? ” 

Another old friend, than whom I know of no better judge of 
seamen, (J. S. Sleeper,) kindly gave me his views as to the 
deterioration of seamen ; I regret that his letter is lost, and I 
can only say that it spoke loudly for educational facilities for 
seamen, and that it confirmed all that is said by others as to 
the falling off in the quality of our seamen. 

Referring to what Mr. Sanford says, page 45, in regard to 
missing ships and captains, I have before me a list of thirty- 
two vessels which have never been accounted for, beginning in 
1826 and continuing up to about 1851. I do not mean that 
they have been lost at sea ; but they are vessels which have 
been sold abroad and no account rendered. This would seem 
to show that rogues abaft the mast existed as far back as fifty 
years ago. 

The Regulations for the Navy are printed in a neat volume 
of 800 pages, and would seem to contain material enough to 
occupy a naval student for a life time ; nevertheless they are 
carefully drawn, and if they are as carefully administered, our 
navy when it comes to have the right kind of ships and men, 


72 


ought to be the best in the world. I consider that the days 
of monitors, and iron clads have gone by; the expensive 
experiences of England abundantly prove this. The navy of 
the future of this country should consist mainly of fast cruising 
ships, capable of annoying the commerce of an enemy, and of 
torpedoes for the defence of harbors. As auxiliaries to these, 
the revolving turret, such as was designed for monitors and 
iron clad ships, should be utilized to mount very heavy rifled 
guns on all prominent headlands commanding the entrances to 
harbors. Such costly forts as Fort Adams near Newport, and 
Forts Warren and Winthrop near Boston, are useless to pre¬ 
vent the landing of armies, which would seek other points to 
disembark. These crude views will of course find no advocates 
among civil or military engineers whose education has been of 
the old school. But I am wandering from my subject, the 
sailor and the means for bettering our condition through him. 

Page 86 of the Navy Regulations, under the head of General 
Instructions (section 48), tells us that freight or commission on 
coin, bullion, or precious jewels, shall be divided one-fourth to 
the commander-in-chief, one-half to the commander of the ship, 
and one-fourth to the navy pension fund. But when a com¬ 
mander-in-chief does not participate, two-thirds goes to the 
commander of the ship, and one-third to the pension fund. 
Under the head of Pensions, (page 125, paragraph 1,) it is 
ordered that commanding officers shall secure to all persons 
under their command the rights afforded to them by the pension 
laws. Paragraph 6, page 126, states that at the expiration of 
ten years’ service any disabled man not discharged for miscon¬ 
duct shall be entitled to a pension, if a board of survey recom¬ 
mend it. And after twenty years’ service, any man disabled 
from sea service, by age or infirmity, who has not been 
discharged for misconduct, will be entitled to a pension equal 
to one-half of the pay of his rating when discharged. The 
latter may also find a home in the Naval Asylum, and get one 
to ten dollars a month in exchange for the pension, which 
must in that case be surrendered. Supposing his half-pay as an 
old petty officer to be 112 a month, or $144 per annum, he 
abandons this and gets a permanent home where he is much 
restricted, and has as much work as he is capable of performing ! 


73 

I cannot say that I think this a very liberal arrangement for 
poor old seamen who have been wounded, or worn out while 
faithfully serving their country. I think that men of this worthy 
class should find a home in the Asylum and have the benefit 
also of their pensions. 

Page 154, on Naval Hospitals, paragraph 1st, says that when 
an officer is found to be incurable, he may go to the Naval 
Asylum. I believe no officers have availed themselves of this 
privilege. 

I find on page 155, paragraph 3, that officers, seamen and 
marines going into a Naval Hospital are charged the value of 
one ration per day for their maintenance. Considering that 
they have perhaps for years paid 20 cents a month for hospital 
tax, this does not seem to me liberal or just. 

Among the regulations I find (page 175, article 12) : “ No 
person connected with the navy shall, under any pretence, 
import in a public vessel any article liable to the payment 
of duty.” 

At page 177, article 19,1 find it stated that any officer en¬ 
listing a deserter , any insane , or any intoxicated person, any 
minor under 16, or any between 16 and 18, without the consent 
of parent or guardian, shall be dishonorably dismissed. This 
seems to me to be very severe, especially relating to insane or 
drunken persons, and to be particularly hard on the latter, who 
by being enlisted and properly cared for might be saved morally 
and physically. 

The regulation, page 227, form 19, is the honorable dis¬ 
charge, whereby if within three months a seaman shall present 
this certificate and is physically qualified, and shall enlist 
for another three years, he shall be entitled to the pay of his 
grade during the three months of absence, just as if he had been 
employed. This is certainly a wise provision; it gives the faith¬ 
ful sailor an incentive to continue in the service, and it benefits 
the service by getting back a good man. It strikes me* as 
a form of liberality operating advantageously both ways, and in 
strong contrast to some of the other forms of liberality already 
noticed. 

Allusion has already been made to the improved condition of 
receiving ships, which formerly resembled floating prisons and 


10 


74 


were so considered by our mercantile seamen, who would have 
been glad to ship in a government vessel under a popular com¬ 
mander instead of being put on board of the sheer hulk, not 
knowing where they were bound nor when they should get off. 
This kept many of our young fishermen from enlisting during 
the early part of the war. Now, I observe, by page 243, that 
men sent to receiving ships are duly exercised, and sometimes 
are rewarded for proficiency in their exercises, so that the 
green recruit or “ landsman ” has some of his verdancy pleas¬ 
antly rubbed off. This also tends to benefit the employer as 
well as the employe. 

The navy regulations are very diffuse and cover all the 
formalities; men are taught when to lift their hats and when 
to keep them on ; how to button their coats, where to smoke 
and where not to smoke ; what kind of paper to use and how 
to use it; I do not know where to dispense with a single order; 
and yet I have often been on board of vessels of war without 
seeing much of the written rules brought into practice. In a 
well ordered ship, with a good crew, one seldom sees the color 
of an officers’ hair, and jack himself goes through the form of 
salute called for by the regulations, by merely jerking up his 
flipper towards his cap. 

Again reverting to the pension fund, which comes from the 
Government moiety of all vessels and property captured, I 
find that the interest of the permanent Navy Pension Fund con¬ 
stitutes what is commonly called the Navy Pension Fund, and 
it is out of this that pensions are paid. Of late years this 
interest has not been sufficient, and Congress has appropriated 
the deficiency. Only a small amount is transferred annually 
to the naval asylum, say about $50,000. I get these facts 
directly from the Treasury Department. 

I have before me a very interesting “ statement of annual 
appropriations and expenditures for Army and Navy Pensions, 
from March 4, 1789, to June 30, 1876.” It is an exhaustive 
paper, presented under a call of the Senate of October 30,1877, 
and bears date of November 12, 1877. It would be impossible 
to give a brief synopsis of this array of figures in a work such 
as 1 have undertaken, but I may state a few leading facts in 
order to disabuse the public mind of the popular idea that there 


75 


is a large sum'in the United States Treasury which ought to be 
utilized. The pensions are for Revolutionary Pensions, under 
the Acts of 1818, 1828, 1882 and 1843. Military pensions— 
pensions to widows and orphans — invalid pensions, Act of 
March 2,1833—unclaimed pensions—navy pensions—pensions 
and half-pay — privateer pensions. 

The amount of appropriations for all these purposes for the 
time above named was $416,059,032.16, and the net expendi¬ 
tures $399,327,536.29. 

A general summary gives the following figures:— 

Appropriations.$416,059,032.16 

Transfers to. 2,711,546.33 

Kepayments. /.... 26,598,148.78 

-$445,368,727.27 

Expenditures by warrants. . 425^25,685.07 

$19,443,042.20 

Transfers from. 3,110,358.53 

$16,332,683.67 

Surplus Fund. 14,894,555.72 

Balance June 30, 1876. $1,438,127.95 

Payments to the naval asylum of late years have been : 

1870,163,100; 1871, $63,100; 1872, $65,100; 1873,65,100. 

The expenditures for pensions for 1791 were one hundred and 
seventy-five thousand eight hundred and forty-three dollars. 
After the war of 1812-15, they went from nine hundred and 
seventy-two thousand three hundred and sixty dollars in 1818, to 
nearly two and a half millions in 1819, and in 1820 to over three 
millions. In 1862 the amount had gone down to about eight 
hundred thousand dollars. In 1863 it rose to nearly five 
millions, and in 1865 to over sixteen millions. In 1871 it rose 
to over thirty-four millions , and in 1876 it was over twenty-eight 
millions. It cannot well be said that Congress has neglected 
the sufferers by the rebellion, or those remaining from the older 
vjars. 

When we come to look over the statement from which the 
above figures are derived, comprising over thirty large tabular 
pages, one no longer wonders that the insane asylum near 













76 


Washington should be well peopled. If I understand the 
result of the figures, it is this:—There remains in the treasury 
about a million and a half, which will be a very small portion 
of the demand for pensions during the current year. 

Referring to what is said as to the crew of the frigate United 
States when she captured the Macedonian, I would now quote 
what Commodore Foxall Parker says, as to the Constitution 
when she captured the Cyane and Levant, which is in strong 
contrast to the fact—stated p. 16—as to the United States. 

When Commodore Parker was attached to the Independence 
as a midshipman in 1843, that gallant old hero Charles Stewart, 
who commanded her, said that when he captured the above- 
named ships, he had only one Englishman among his crew. 
When his crew were shipped he intended to have only 
Americans, and when he found that there was one Englishmen 
on board, he desired to get rid of him ; but the ships’ company 
came to the mast in a body and requested that he might be 
kept; the man himself urged this, saying, that he wanted to 
have a shot at his countrymen on account of the bad treatment 
he had received while in a man-of-war. Commodore Stewart 
allowed him to remain. At this distant day it seems hardly 
fair to find fault with this decision, but it does seem to me that 
the reason the man gave for desiring to stay was enough to 
insure his discharge. 

Among the friends whom I have consulted as to the deca¬ 
dence of seamen, I must not neglect to mention Admiral H. 
K. Thatcher, who from long experience is as competent to give 
an opinion as any man I know. He says, substantially— u I 
trust the day is not far distant when the revival of commerce will 
demand the services of thousands of seamen; when that happy 
day arrives the question will arise from whence are they to come ? 
They cannot be created in a day, but must be trained from 
early manhood to perform duties which cannot be learned 
from books, and which are only attained by education afloat. 
In order to put an end to the vicious system of filling our ships 
with dissolute foreigners who have no pride in the flag, many 
of whom can neither speak or understand our language, I 
would advocate a system of training schools for respectable 
Americans, to be made so exclusive that admission to them 


77 


shall be deemed a privilege, and where good morals and a 
good physique shall be deemed of first importance; I would 
exclude all vicious boys whose parents have lost control over 
them. Merchants and underwriters are most deeply interested 
in this matter, and should be the first to advocate the training 
of American seamen. No young American of respectability 
will now degrade himself by shipping with such creatures as 
he would meet in our merchant ships. 

“ The young seamen should be taught discipline, prompt obedi¬ 
ence to orders. The training ships should be furnished with 
popular books. If we can raise up a class of young Americans, 
our shipowners will find it for their interest to select material 
from the school ships. At present none feel any interest in the 
ship, the flag, or her cargo, beyond the captain and some of the 
mates, but with such young men all would come to feel a pride 
in the flag. I regret that I cannot give you something more 
valuable in helping out your laudable work; I can only say 
that I am deeply interested in the welfare of seamen, and 
ardently desire to see our old prestige revived on the ocean; 
success to your efforts.” 

While I should have liked to draw the Admiral out upon 
the subject of seamen in the navy, and the value of nautical 
schools to that important branch of our Goverment, I am 
happy to put on record his views as to manning the mercantile 
marine, which, after all, the navy must rely upon in time of 


war. 




















% 




























.4 






































































I 



* 


I 




• 

* 

c. » / 



•» 










APPENDIX. 
































































. 




























































































































81 


Table No. I. —The British Training Ships are 


Name and Number. 

Where 

Stationed. 

Class of Ship. 

No. of 
Boys. 

Annual 

Expenses. 

Expense 
per head. 

How Supported. 

Akbar. 


Liverpool, 

Reformatory, 

170 

£3592 

£20 

Government. 

Clarence. 

9 

Liverpool, 

Reformatory, 

229 

3875 

18.10 

Government. 

Chichester . .. 


Greenhithe, 

Labor Class, 

250 

5730 

1615.18 

Private Subscri’n. 

Corn Avail. 

. .4 

Purfleet, 

Industrial, 

238 

6264 

23 

Government. 

Cumberland . 

. ..5 

Dumbarton, 

Industrial, 

349 

7557 

20 

Mixed. 

ConAvay. 


Liverpool, 

Officers, 

103 

5755 

501 

Fees. 

Endeavor .... 

..7 

Tetham, 

Industrial, 

149 

3596 

24 

Mixed. 

Formidable.. 


Bristol, 

Industrial, 

297 

5955 

00 

Mixed. 

Gibraltar. 

. .9 

Belfast, 

Industrial, 

214 

2730 

20 

Mixed. 

Goliath. 

.10 

Thames, 

Paupers, 

399 

7733 

19 

Poor Rates. 

Havanah. 

.11 

Cardiff, 

Industrial, 

84 

1322 

20 

Mixed. 

Indefatigable 

..12 

Liverpool, 

Sons of Seas, 

149 

4000 

20 

Private Subscri’n. 

Mars. 


River Tay, 

Industrial, 

305 

5915 

19£ 

Government. 

Southampton 

..14 

Hull, 

Industrial, 

200 

4002 

16 

Government. 

Warspite . ... 

.15 

Woolwich, 

Labor Class, 

200 

6721 

231 

Private Subscri’n. 

* Wore ester.. 

.16 

London, 

Officers, 

140 

8000 

57 

Fees. 

Wellesley . ... 

.17 

Tyne, 

Industrial, 

278 

4669 

00 

Mixed. 


Table No. II. —Expenses of Maintenance. 



Public Private 

Money. Subscription. 

Total 

Public Fees. 

Total 

Received. 

Total 

Expended. 

Ships for Officers.2 

Industrial Schools.8 

Independent Ships.4 

. £ 127 

£ 38,246 4,400 

. 10,942 

£ 13,492 

£ 13,619 

42,646 

10,942 

14,454 

£ 13,755 

33,017 

24,184 

13,731 

Reformatory.3 

17 

12,861 593 



Those called Independent are Chichester and Warspite for the laboring classes, and 
the Goliath for pauper boys. 


To be replaced, if not already done, by the Frederick William. 


























































82 


Table No. 3 .—Number sent to Merchant Service. 



As 

Apprentices. 

In other 
Capacities. 

Total. 

Average Expenses 
per head, per annum. 

Ships for Officers.... 

2 

*105 

7 

112 

£53 15 

0 

Industrial. 

... 8 

109 

291 

400 

18 19 

n 

Independent. 


147 

479 

626 

21 6 

2 

Reformatory. 


t None. 

168 

168 

20 7 

8 


* Not seamen apprentices but officers, 
t Sent on license under the Reformatory Act. 


I have not been able to procure any statistics of interest 
relating to the school ship St. Marys. The Mercury, alluded 
to as a reformatory school at New York, has been sold; it is 
clear from this result that no school ships will ever be 
popular except those established for the education of respect¬ 
able youth. 



















83 


The action of the Board of Trade of Boston, as given in 
the following paper, meets my hearty concurrence, as I doubt 
not it will that of every advocate for justice to shipowners 
and their employes. 


AMERICAN SHIPPING. 


NEEDED REFORMS IN THE LAWS OF 
COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. 


A REPORT MADE TO THE BOSTON BOARD OF TRADE BY 
THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO 
CONSIDER THE SUBJECT. 

THE EVILS OF THE PRESENT LAWS AND CHANGES 
PROPOSED. 

The following is an abstract of a very carefully prepared 
and comprehensive report of a Special Committee of the Boston 
Board of Trade, appointed May 23, 1877, to prepare a state¬ 
ment of needed reforms in the laws of commerce and navigation, 
which was submitted to the Board in February, 1878. 

The report says that the laws and regulations pertaining to the 
shipment and discharge of seamen, enacted in 1803 and 1840, are 
entirely inapplicable to the existing condition of things, and oppressive 
and unjust to shipowners. It recommends the repeal of all laws 
requiring payment of extra wages to seamen, under any circumstances, 
leaving seamen, like other people, to their remedies at common law 
for any breach of contract. The laws requiring these extra wages 


\ 






84 


are liable to great abuse by our Consuls in foreign ports, large sums 
being annually paid upon complaint of seamen, in a majority of cases 
without any just cause. The seamen employed now are not, as 
formerly, American citizens, so that the laws, being especially designed 
to protect American citizens do not now apply as intended; and by the 
method of the penalties, afford temptation to Consuls, and delegate 
to them too much power and authority, constituting them the sole 
judges. 

The laws of England in no case required any payment of extra 
wages to seamen. It has been universally believed that it was unlaw¬ 
ful to ship a crew in a vessel belonging to the United States, to be 
discharged in any foreign port, or from one foreign port to another 
foreign port, even though such should be the contract stipulated in 
the shipping articles; and our Consuls have in such cases invariably 
imposed the penalty of three months’ extra pay for each and every 
seaman so discharged. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been 
exacted in this way from our shipowners. But upon a careful 
examination of the laws we find no warrant for such a procedure. 
Upon serious reflection it would be absurd were it otherwise, and yet, 
strange to say, so inconsistent have been our laws in respect to the 
rights of the shipowners, that both Consuls and owners have been 
deluded into the belief that they prohibited a seaman from making 
a contract to define when or where that contract should be terminated. 

The report recommends an amendment to section 4131, by striking 
out the clause providing that officers of vessels of the United States 
shall in all cases be citizens of the United States; to section 4561, by 
striking out the words, “ Each of whom shall be entitled to three 
months’ pay in addition to his wages to the time of discharge,” and 
also, the clause, “And receive one month’s extra wages in addition to 
their pay up to the time of discharge.” It recommends also, an 
amendment to section 4578, so that the owners of vessels shall receive 
fifty cents for each day of the voyage for each, disabled seaman sent 
home from a foreign port by a Consul. From section 4580, the 
Committee would strike out, “And shall require from the master of 
the vessel,” etc., to end of section. 

The report favors the repeal of sections 4581 and 4582, substi¬ 
tuting for the latter, “A section providing for the return of seamen 
discharged in a foreign port contrary to the contract, to the port from 
which they shipped originally, the expense of the passage to be paid 
to the Consul by the master of the vessel. But this passage money 
to be paid only when the seaman returns as provided.” Sections 
4583, 4584 and 4585, the Committee would have repealed. 


85 


The object of these proposed changes is to abolish altogether the 
payment of extra wages to seamen. The system is of no practical 
benefit to the seaman, and it is a source of constant irritation and 
great pecuniary loss to the shipowner. The system is peculiar to this 
Government. No other maritime nation has enacted any such laws. 
It may appear to some that the removal of these penalties will expose 
the seaman to greater hardships, to cruel treatment, and leave him 
wholly unprotected. Such is not the case. Certainly no nation is 
more jealous of the rights and welfare of its subjects than England. 
Instances of cruel or improper treatment occur no more frequently 
on board of foreign vessels than under our own, and it has not been 
found necessary with other nations to adopt any extraordinary mea¬ 
sures for the protection of seamen. We assert with confidence, 
having had large experience in the management of vessels, that a 
change in the laws as we suggest would work no ill to the seamen. 
The commerce of the United States is struggling for existence, and 
the extortions and impositions to which shipowners are constantly 
subjected by the seamen, who are almost wholly foreigners, and who 
have no interest whatever in its prosperity, and aided too frequently 
by the Consuls, whose interest it may be to impose the penalties are 
a serious detriment and a great hindrance to a return to that pros¬ 
perity which in former years was theirs to enjoy. 

The greatly increased cost of the construction of vessels, and of 
keeping them in repair, during the past twelve years; the large 
expense of maintaining our vessels as compared with other nations, 
and the harsh administration of unwise laws in regard to seamen ; all 
these disadvantages combined have caused a large majority of our 
former principal shipowners to withdraw from the business. Laws 
and regulations enacted as long since as in the year 1803 :—wise 
measures, no doubt, at that time, but totally unjust and thoroughly 
impracticable under the great changes that have since transpired,— 
have been allowed to remain in full force, despite the entreaties and 
protestations of the shipowning class. Consuls, upon whom at times 
great responsibilities rest, and upon whose wise and discreet adminis¬ 
tration and conduct the welfare of the shipowner depends so 
frequently, and who are selected by other maritime nations on 
account of their fitness for the position, and whose appointment 
usually continues during good behavior, have in the past, been usually 
chosen by this government on account of political services or for 
party purposes. Figures that are indeed startling to a nation that 
is truly proud of its commercial history,—figures showing a rapid 
decline in our foreign commerce,—have at last aroused the attention 


86 


of the country. The Committee unanimously agree that any mea¬ 
sures that will enable us to construct and repair vessels in this 
country at a less cost, and maintain them at sea at an expense that 
will compare favorably with other nations, should be earnestly 
recommended to Congress for prompt action. We recommend and 
urge that all articles entering into the construction and repair of 
vessels, whether such articles are manufactured or in their raw condi¬ 
tion, be admitted free of duty when such articles are so employed, 
and whether such vessels are engaged in the foreign or coasting 
trade. The present restriction to vessels, requiring the employment 
of the vessel in the foreign trade, is a source of constant annoyance, 
and deprives the shipowner of the benefits that should accrue to him. 
We further recommend that all provisions and supplies used or 
consumed on board vessels, when such vessels are bound upon a 
voyage to any foreign port, be allowed to be put on board such vessels 
and taken out of bond, free of duty. 

Mr. Whitney said he was in entire accord with the spirit of 
the report, but he was sorry that the argument had not been 
made more strong that the changes proposed were for the 
benefit of the sailors as much as for the shipowners. He 
referred especially to the advantage which would arise if 
seamen were allowed to contract for a year or a certain period, 
instead of for a voyage, calling attention to the fact that under 
the present system they were discharged when the vessel 
arrived in port, and turned adrift into the streets. 

The report was adopted and ordered to be printed. It was 
subsequently referred back to the Committee, with the under¬ 
standing that it will be brought to the attention of Congress. 
It was also voted to send copies to the Chamber of Commerce, 
New York, and the Maritime Exchange. 














































































































































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